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GRANVILLE 



TALKS AND TAIL SPINS 

FROM 

A FLYER'S DIARY 




Designed by "Granny" and worn by all U. S. Bombers. 



THE ABINGDON PRESS 

NEW YORK CINCINNATI 



9^% 



Copyright, 19 19, by 
GILBERT GUTTERSEN 



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©CI,A585143 



TO THE MEMORY OF GRANVILLE 
AND TO THE THOUSANDS WHO 
HELPED TO WIN THE WAR ON 
THIS SIDE, THIS RECORD OF 
SERVICE IS DEDICATED. 



ILLUSTRATIONS 
Granny Frontispiece 



FACING PAGE 



A Perfect Formation j 

Granny's Own Ship j 

Ship Meets Ship ) 

"Some Pancake" J ' * * 

"The" Bombing Crew— "Granny" and "Bill". . 36 

Stunting for the Camera ) 

Above the Clouds ) ^^ 

Vemon Castle's Fatal Fall ) 

"Nosein" j '°^ 

Loving Cup 176 



PREFACE 

Granville's great love for humanity and 
his spirit of service, his loyalty to his friends 
and his country were forces which made it 
impossible for him to long withstand the 
urge of his inner spirit which demanded 
that he add his bit to the side of freedom and 
justice in the great world struggle. 

Only what he considered the most haz- 
ardous branch of the service satisfied his 
fearless spirit. It was not love of adven- 
ture which impelled him. He knew gay 
and happy Europe of old from months of 
travel there. To him it was not a strange 
land, full of new attractions, to which he 
was going. It was a fierce, stern battlefield 
which he must reach that he might measure 
his strength — succeed or sacrifice, and per- 
chance both — in the great struggle for hu- 
manity. 

Because he thought a flyer would be 
among the first to have this opportunity he 
could not rest until he had applied for and 
passed, with signal success, the searching 

5 



6 PREFACE 

physical examination prescribed for all 
candidates for the Flying Corps of the 
United States Army. Not even the big in- 
ducements held out to the athlete of unusual 
ability could deter him. His keen sense of 
fair play and a square deal, emphasized by 
his successes on the football field and basket- 
ball floor, but added to his already over- 
whelming desire to get into action. 

In August, 1917, he was accepted and 
awaited his call, but he was doomed for dis- 
appointment. In diving from a high tower 
he met with a serious accident which left 
him paralyzed and helpless for some time. 
The doctors could not determine just how 
badly he was hurt, but finally decided that it 
would be several months at least before he 
could hope to be fit for service. 

To make matters worse, his ''call" came at 
just this time, and nothing short of real 
heroism carried "Granny" through the next 
four months. He entered the University of 
Minnesota, became president of his class, 
made the Freshman football team and was 
pledged to Beta Theta Pi, yet through it all 
he was only waiting to get into condition for 
the "Service.' ' 



PREFACE 7 

When at last he was allowed to take a 
second examination, he passed it satisfac- 
torily and entered the service December 12, 
and Ground School at Austin, Texas, De- 
cember 29. Apparently, with all unfore- 
seen obstacles removed, he might reasonably 
expect to see the fulfillment of his one great 
desire, and after a few months of intensive 
work, reach the scene of action across the 
Atlantic. 

Though he met with every success in 
training, he failed to get across, and this 
failure caused him the greatest anguish of 
soul. His study and work, his trials and 
pleasures, were only what thousands of boys 
went through — the thousands of boys who, 
crushed with disappointment, still fought 
the good fight "over here," but, fighting, 
could not feel they were fulfilling the full 
function of war until they had met the 
enemy face to face. They could not make 
themselves agree with Roosevelt, who said : 
"We know these boys showed their loyalty 
and patriotism in their readiness to do duty 
in whatever position they were given, and 
this is what counted. The hardest task was 
for the men who were denied the chance of 



8 PREFACE 

glory; and if they did this task well and 
served faithfully whatever they were as- 
signed, they have the same right to take 
pride in their participation in the war as any 
of the gallant fellows who came back 
maimed and crippled. All alike have made 
us forever debtors, and to all alike we pay 
the same meed of loyal admiration and re- 
spect." 

F. M. B. 



Ground School, Austin, Texas, 

January 2, 1918. 
Dear Folks : 

Well! IVe been shot for the first time! 
An M.D. shot me with typhoid inoculation. 
I was vaccinated day before yesterday. 
O.K. so far. 

I passed my week's work — V.G.Plus 
(100%) in one subject, and V.G. (90%) 
in the other, and I'm still fooling them. Hit 
them for V.G.'s. in everything this week. I 
sure was lucky, and maybe I'm not happy. 
Say, I'd go crazy if I felt much better ! I've 
got a smile on that you could button in the 
back. I get some new subjects every week, 
though, so I may find a "sticker" yet, but as 
long as luck breaks even and the Lord is 
with me I'll be all right. I'm not going out 
a single night until I get "promoted" to 
Flying School. If I shouldn't get "pro- 
moted," you'll see a Murphy or O'Brien en- 
listing in the Royal Flying Corps — but Fm 
going to get through. 

Conditions are remarkably fine as far as 

9 



lo GRANVILLE 

morals are concerned. Sometimes a "rough- 
neck" gets in, but in a day or two he packs 
up and disappears — "transferred." The 
handkerchief and dollar arrived O.K. with 
the dollar bill on the outside. It lay on my 
bed all day before I got it. Some swell 
bunch ! 

O, the army sure is an awful place all 
right! Out of seven of us who bunk to- 
gether in one end of the "Porch" only one 
boy even smokes. I'd like to see you find 
seven boys in civil life like that ! One comes 
from Texas, one from Denver, one from the 
University of Washington, and two from 
Illinois University, and one from Ohio, and 
all are princes. Almost all the men are col- 
lege graduates. In my squad of eight men 
there is one, Carrol by name, who wrote the 
music to "So Long, Letty" and a lot of other 
popular stuff. He composes songs about 
incidents here right along, and we learn 
them when on the march. We get an hour 
and a half of drill and three quarters of an 
hour calisthenics in the morning and two 
hours of drill in the afternoon. We are sup- 
posed to know enough drill to enable us to 
take charge of a company when we get out. 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 1 1 

I was just interrupted by a shout, "Grades 
up!" and we all piled out to the bulletin 
board. It took me about fifteen seconds to 
shove my way through and see my grades. 
It pays to be a big fellow sometimes. I 
passed "jake." Missed a string of V.Gs., 
but got nothing lower than a G., so I should 
worry. 

I have now finished in Military Law, 
Military Subjects, Infantry Drill, Army 
Regulations, Hygiene, Airplanes, Rigging 
of Airplanes, Repair of Airplanes, Sil- 
houettes of Airplanes, Nomenclature of 
Airplanes, Care of Airplanes and Engines 
(the hardest of them all and I got 90 in the 
final). 

Next week come finals in Map Drawing, 
Map Reading, Meteorology, Artillery Ob- 
servation, Aerial Observation, Aids to 
Flight, Trap Shooting, Range Shooting, 
Bombing, Automatic Sight, Machine Guns, 
Contact Patrol, Night Flying, Cross-Coun- 
try Flying, Reconnaissance, Instruments, 
Miniature Range, Pin Point Location, 
Wireless, Radio Outfits, and Conventional 
Signs. 

They only ask two or three questions on 



12 GRANVILLE 

each subject, but you must know it all or you 
get a ^^bust," and I don't want to get a "bust" 
for several reasons. 

In wireless, if you miss two letters out of 
fifty (per minute) you "bust." The kid 
across from me missed a couple and the 
tears started to roll down his cheeks, so I 
kicked the empty chair over next to me and 
it made a big racket and they had to start the 
test all over again. When we got out of the 
room the kid knew why I had done it and 
he was so darn glad he could hardly talk. 
He got all the letters perfect the second 
time. 

Before I take a test I shut my eyes and 
picture the white wings an aviator wears 
over his heart, and then I say a little prayer 
and take my pen and knock hell out of the 
questions. 

This week the major received a telegram 
from Washington asking for fifty volunteers 
to go into a new special bombing and con- 
tact patrol school. After thinking it over, I 
handed in my name, as it looked good to me, 
and / believe I can get across quicker in this 
bunch. I'll telegraph if I make it. 

Granny. 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 13 

Telegram 
Austin, Texas — 12:15 p- m. — '18. 

Graduated today — Leave for Houston 
Tuesday — Happiest boy on earth. 

Granny, i :o9 p. m. 



Ellington Field, Houston, Texas. 

February 16, 19 18. 
Dear Folk: 

I suppose you got my telegram about 
graduating. I was so darn glad I didn't 
know what to do. Because of Washington's 
Birthday, we took our finals a day ahead of 
time. They gave us twenty-four hours 
notice, but caught about forty fellows 
"asleep at the switch." They called us all 
into a room and gave us a little talk about 
wishing they could read off more names, but 
"some have scholastic difficulties detaining 
them," etc. They strung us along for a 
while and then — (Hurrah! Interrupted by 
orders telling me my flying begins to-mor- 
row, seven to ten. Say! Maybe I'm not 
happy!) 

Well — to go back— I sure am lucky! 
After all the talk they picked only fifteen 



14 GRANVILLE 

men to go to the flying field and they were 
the highest from both academic and mili- 
tary standpoints. The major said we should 
feel real honored, and I do. There are two 
cadet captains, three first lieutenants and 
four second lieutenants in the crowd, so I'm 
in fast company. I should worry! I'll 
stack myself up with any of them. . . . O, 
darn it! I can't write! I feel too good! 

By the way, you remember Fred Hart- 
man, the Canadian Dog Race winner? His 
bunk is third from mine and he has his lead 
dog with him. I'm crazy about this place! 
The airplanes or "ships" fill the air all the 
time, and when you see a formation of 
twenty or thirty way up in the air they look 
like a bunch of mosquitoes or bees coming 
home to hive at sunset. Poetic as the dick- 
ens I Love, 

Granny. 

Ellington Field, Houston, Texas, 

March, 191 8. 
Dear Folks: 

I'm sure having the time of my life! I 

have flying from eight to twelve in the 

morning and six-thirty to eight-thirty in the 




A Perfect IrbrmeLtion 




^,,tS#li|»l««*>l«<*«'«'^''««««-«"«»>' 



Granny is Own NShip 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 15 

evening and it sure is great. I'm not train- 
ing for a pilot but will get practical bomb- 
ing practice after a bit. However, IVe 
learned to run the ship already, and with a 
few hours' practice on take-offs and land- 
ings I'd take a ship anywhere in a forty- 
mile wind. 

I can truthfully say I wasn't a darn bit 
scared at any time. I've got almost too 
much confidence, for I don't even feel a 
thrill when we leave the ground. There are 
some accidents, of course, but that's all in 
the game, and I wish you could be as free 
from worry as I am. You would be too if 
you had the feeling of confidence inside of 
you that I have. 

Perhaps I ought not to tell any of this, 
but I will, just to show why I am so con- 
fident of safety. I've seen nine fatal acci- 
dents. One of the boys who came with me 
was killed to-day and one is in the hospital. 
I tossed up a quarter with the kid who got 
killed to see which of us would go up in the 
first ship, and I won and went up. After 
we got up a ways we made a turn and I 
looked around to watch the kid in the other 
ship make his turn. He went into a tail 



i6 GRANVILLE 

spin, nose down first. IVe still got the 
quarter. The Lord's with me I'm sure. 

On my first trip the pilot tried to scare me 
out by making some pretty stifif banks, but 
it's great stuff to look down between the 
wings and see the ground directly under- 
neath. Then he tried some zooms (a short 
dive and then a rise until you lose speed 
and are about to start a tail-slide, not tail- 
spin, and then you nose out again) . I turned 
around and laughed at him, so he climbed 
up a ways and shut off the engine and did a 
spiral down. He shut off the engine so I 
could hear him and said, "Engine's dead!" 
I looked around at him, and he put on a 
scared look and when he started to go down 
in a tight spiral he said, "Tail spin!" But 
forewarned is forearmed, so I said, "Nuts! 
Let her ride!" It was a great ride. 

But even a bad spill doesn't necessarily 
mean that you get killed. My pilot fell — 
when alone — two thousand feet in a tail-spin 
and hit the ground, nose down, at about two 
hundred miles per hour and he got a nose 
bleed! 

One of the things which impressed me 
most was the bumpiness of the air caused by 




5 hip meete 5 hip 




^ome Pancake '' 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 17 

pockets or ascending columns of air result- 
ing from unequal heating of the earth's 
crust. Sometimes you feel the ship drop and 
the next minute you get a bump from under- 
neath or on one wing that sets you rolling 
or tossing like a ship at sea, but with sudden 
starts and stops as in an elevator. Another 
thing is the fact that you have no idea of the 
speed except for the wind. It seems as 
though you were barely moving, and it looks 
as though the other machines were floating 
in the air ; but when you shut off the engine 
and dive, you get down in less time than it 
takes to tell it, and then, when you skim over 
the ground, you get an idea of the speed 
you're going. It's a great game as long as 
you keep your head, but if you don't you're 
a hindrance in the service anyway. 

Our instructor said we might pick our 
pilots from among the R.M.A. (advanced 
flyers), and the chances are we will go to 
France together — possibly in May I But, of 
course, that's not certain. We may go to an 
aerial gunnery school from here at another 
flying field in Texas. This field is supposed 
to be the largest in the world and the most 
advanced in the U. S. 



i8 GRANVILLE 

I received the box and the pair of gray 
socks. Many, many thanks! The socks fit 
great. You can't imagine how good they 
feel. Also, I got the cake Sis sent, and it 
sure was fine. If she made it, I'll congrat- 
ulate her — and so will about forty other fel- 
lows here. Love, 

Granny. 

Ellington Field, Houston, Texas, 

April, 9, 1918. 
Dear Sis : 

It has been some time since I've written. 
I've finished the Aerial Gunnery course 
here but will go to an advanced school be- 
fore long, I hope. It has been about the 
most interesting work I've done. 

Two ships, assigned to certain parts of the 
country, go up and maneuver against each 
other, first in a cloud and then out, each try- 
ing to sneak up on the other. We have 
kodaks built and operated like machine 
guns except that they take pictures of our 
shots. The following day we go over all 
our shots and see which ship scored the more 
hits and what correction our work needs. 

This fighting in the air is fine stuff! The 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 19 

oniy part I don't care for is that I have to 
unstrap to work the kodak right, and with 
my pilot pulling stunts to keep the other 
ship from getting a shot at us, it keeps me 
busy staying in the ship. I fasten my straps 
to my legs, between my knees and ankles, 
so that if I should fall out I would be held 
until I could climb back in. 

My good luck is still with me. Saturday 
was the first day in three weeks that I 
haven't gone up with my pilot and the first 
time that I ever went up with any other 
pilot. But my man was late, so I got in an- 
other ship and went up. Coming back we 
saw a wreck and spiraled and got a good 
look at it. We recognized "The Ark" (It's 
funny how you can recognize a ship!), and 
I knew my pilot had got his first spill. He 
came out O.K. and took up another ship and 
he feels relieved, for until you've had your 
first spill you "have it coming" and worry 
about it. He has been a little blue lately, 
anyway, as he lost his two pals in an accident 
a while ago. 

I saw a great smash-up this morning. 
When a fellow smashes five ships he's a 
"cadet ace." Well, I guess some fellow must 



20 GRANVILLE 

have gotten a sudden desire to become an 
ace, because he smashed up three ships be- 
fore he smashed up himself. I saw him 
when he started the fancy work and yelled, 
"Heads up 1 Wild ship!" When he came 
for us you should have seen us scatter. I 
made tracks at about nothing flat. They 
weren*t much hurt. The fellow in the back 
seat was out before the ship turned over, 
and the pilot wasn't much behind him. He 
looked mighty sheepish when he crawled 
through the broken struts and canvas. We 
all gave him the laugh and pulled sup- 
posedly clever remarks for his benefit. The 
ambulance was only about one hundred 
yards off, so the doctor jumped out with his 
big two-edged ax and four-foot wire cutter 
and that made it all the funnier. The am- 
bulance carries these and a hatchet and saw 
to use in cutting away wreckage in a hurry. 

Sometimes we have a fog which makes it 
bad for night flying. It is pretty lonesome 
work, especially when the fog obstructs the 
lights from all the farms below and only a 
few dim lights from the field can be seen. 
If they go out because of the fog, or the 
electric power fails, as it did once, you're 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 21 

out of luck. All you run your ship by is 
"the feel," for it's pitch black all around 
and only a dim light on the field below. 
You have small lights on your wing tips so 
that you can be seen by other ships, but they 
give only a small, sickly glow. 

If you get above the fog you are liable to 
lose yourself and then, with no landing 
lights, you begin to think what a darn little 
thing your existence is, compared to the uni- 
verse in general, and begin to worry about 
the other fellow in the ship — and he is 
worrying about you. You dive down about 
one thousand feet, with your engine 
throttled, and the wires start at a hum, and 
then they sing, and then they shriek, as the 
speed increases. You watch your altimeter, 
so that you don't go too low, and then you 
bank, first one way and then another, and 
look and hunt for the glow through the fog 
which indicates home. You think you've 
found it a dozen times but you're "seeing 
things." 

You've got gas enough for a half hour 
more and you console yourself with the fact 
that a lot of things may happen in that time. 
The fog can blow away or you can fly out 



22 GRANVILLE 

over the ocean, or your engine might fail or 
get on fire, or the ship tail-spin or a dozen 
other things. You look around at your pilot 
and smile, and, although you can't see his 
face, you know he smiles back and you feel 
better. Some one is in the ship beside you, 
and somehow you know you'll get back 
"jake" and, if you don't, you know you can 
be in some awful smashes and not get killed, 
or even hurt badly. 

Then you see a glow way off to the left 
and you point to it and the ship comes 
around with a bank that almost pushes you 
through the seat and you dive toward home! 
Sure enough ! It's the field, and you see the 
signal light has been set to land. Say, 
maybe the ground doesn't feel good when 
the wheels first strike! You unfasten the 
straps and climb out and don't say a darn 
word but walk over to the fire where the 
other fellows are, and you notice the ambu- 
lance is gone and two crews are missing. 
They lit upside down, or rather, dug their 
noses in and turned over on their backs be- 
cause of miscalculations in the fog and 
hurry to get down. They are not hurt badly, 
though, so you lie down on your coat beside 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 23 

the fire and wait for the fog to clear up and 
try it again. There were two smashes out of 
five in our sector, and one out of four in the 
other; but no one was hurt, so what's the 
difference? Last week when a sudden fog 
came up they were not so lucky. 

Say, that jacket sure is a peach and just 
the stuff! I was up nine thousand feet and 
the rest of them darn near froze (anyway 
they got good and chilly) but I didn't notice 
the cold. I can't begin to tell you how I 
appreciate it. I got a drag with the Kewee 
Bevo in charge of repairs (Kewee — a non- 
flying bird; Bevo — a shave tail or second 
lieutenant), and he gave me a part of a 
"prop" we broke that I'll send home the 
first chance I get So long, 

Granny. 

Ellington Field, Houston, Texas, 

May 13, 1918. 
Dearest Mother : 

I just came from the barracks. A fellow 

came in one end and said, "All men unas- 

signcd for this morning fall out for fatigue." 

That means raking up the lawn, and by the 

time he got down to our end we were all 



24 GRANVILLE 

on our way to the "Y." The "Y" sure is a 
wonderful place, and I like to come here. 

You don't know how tickled I was to get 
those pictures. I didn't take a single photo 
with me, so you can't begin to know how 
glad I was to have that family group. Many 
thanks! I'm glad I had my snaps taken 
when I did, as my facial beauty is somewhat 
marred just at present — nothing serious but 
a little scratched and swollen. I'm afraid 
I'll have to have some work done on my 
teeth as soon as they get over being tender. 
I tried to bite a piece out of the cowl on the 
ship but didn't succeed very well. 

It's been bad weather for flying lately, hot 
and gusty, therefore bumpy; but I've been 
putting in one or two hours practice every 
afternoon on landings and take-offs, for I 
can fly in the air in any sort of weather, but 
the real test for a flyer is his landings. 
There is always a pilot with me, as no 
"bomber" is allowed to "solo," but for four 
days he never touched the controls, and that 
was in the worst flying weather. Once I did 
a "ground immelman," but the officer in 
charge said, "Unavoidable accident." Most 
of the fellows didn't have nerve enough to 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 25 

do landing work in that weather, but I 
figure if I can learn to land in bad weather 
111 have nothing to worry about, while 
others don't look ahead any farther than 
their next date in town. My pilot is a fine, 
clean, broad fellow and advises me all the 
time. Yesterday we practiced stunts. By 
the way, don't think practicing stunts is un- 
necessary and dangerous, for a fellow who 
goes across the lines in France and can't 
"stunt" usually doesn't come back. It's your 
life insurance over there. 

To-morrow is "Mother's Day," and I 
wish I could be home to go to church with 
you. But I'll be there in spirit anyway. 
Almost every kid in the barracks has spoken 
of to-morrow being "Mother's Day," and 
reminded the other fellows. 

You said you wished you could really do 
something more besides stay at home and do 
what little you can there in war work, con- 
servation. Liberty Bond, and Red Cross 
work, etc. Well, you know how important 
such work is, and, what is more, not being 
egotistical either, you've done what thou- 
sands of other mothers have done ; but what 
is really greater than giving millions and 



26 GRANVILLE 

that is sending off a son with a smile. A 
millionaire who gives his millions isn't in it 
with a mother who does that. 

I just happened to think of a mother I 
met on my way here. In the smoking com- 
partment were four traveling men who 
knew just how to win the war — good ad- 
vice for Germany. To escape them I went 
into the day coach where I could read in 
peace. But it was "from the frying pan into 
the fire." There was a mother there from 
Brown County, Kansas, and she sat down 
beside me and asked me if I had heard that 
the Brown County boys were going to leave 
immediately for France. And when I an- 
swered, "No," she said, "It's the truth." 
And what's worse, "They've picked the 
Brown County boys to lead the charge on 
Berlin as soon as they get to France." Then 
she wanted to know if I thought "that was 
the right thing to do." It seemed she and 
her husband, who is a Civil War veteran, 
had had quite an argument as to the advis- 
ability of the "charge on Berlin." I started 
to tell her I didn't think it very likely when 
she interrupted me with: "O, it's terrible! 
Terrible! What is the world coming to?" 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 27 

and then she started in crying. I agreed 
with her. It sure was "terrible." When 
she recovered sufficiently I found she was 
on her way to "cheer up" her son, one of the 
Brown County boys. I asked her why her 
husband didn^t come with her, and found 
out he was left home to "tend the stock." 
"Besides," she added, "he couldn't never 
cheer up John the way I can. O, it's ter- 
rible! Terrible!" — and another burst of 
tears. I escaped, unnoticed, during the 
shower, but decided it sure would be "ter- 
rible" for John and the Brown County boys 
when this well-meaning old lady tries to 
"cheer them up." 

By the way, IVe got a new girl. I get a 
new one every week or so. Safety lies in 
numbers, you know. I met her at the M.E. 
church. She drives a Ford — two years in 
college, three out — Irish but a German 
name — not especially good looking — dresses 
becomingly — swims like a fish — a good 
scout, and as funny as a hind wheel on a 
hearse. 

It's bad judgment to put this next, but 
I'm broke and have no money. I'm living 
above my income ($75) I admit, but it costs 



28 GRANVILLE 

every time you go to town and clothes and 
grub, etc. I can say, though, that IVe not 
lost any money gambling, if that's any satis- 
faction to you. There is some going on, but 
I keep out of it. None of the debts are due 
until pay day (whenever that comes) but 
I'd rather pay up here and owe you money 
if you can lend me some. Then we may 
move most any time, and maybe not for a 
month or two, but I'll need money for 
traveling expenses and equipment. 

I found out to-day that my recommenda- 
tion for a commission went in some weeks 
ago, but goodness knows when Washington 
will see fit to send it I've also heard that 
the office here is waiting merely for permis- 
sion from Washington to commission us. 
But this is a new branch of the service and it 
takes time. There has been an awful lot of 
red tape and seeming unnecessary delay in 
this work, and it looks sometimes as though 
we will be here forever, but I'm getting so 
I don't worry about reverses but keep "com- 
ing along." 

I was told to purchase a Military Instruc- 
tor's book, but they've got a slim chance of 
ever making an instructor in bombing out of 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 29 

me. IVe had an argument, or "hearing," 

about it already. Just because a fellow is in 

the first class to get through is no reason why 

they should slip over some stay-at-home job 

on him. I'll resign and go as a buck private 

in the infantry first. 

Must close now, but, even though this 

message might come late for "Mother's 

Day," it's to you, mother, whose good 

thoughts have helped me always, that this 

letter comes with my fervent wishes for your 

happiness. 

Love, 

Granny. 

A SENTIMENT FROM HIS FAMILY 

WHICH "GRANNY" ALWAYS 

CARRIED WITH HIM 

We never look into the sky 

Or see a patch of cloud go by. 

But what we seem to see his hand 

Waving a greeting to the land. 

And breaking through the darkest cloud 

We find his happy smile — and proud. 

"Somewhere," we say, "Granny's up there, 
Serving his country in the air." 



30 GRANVILLE 

We think each cloud that dots the sky 
Has seen our boy in passing by. 
We wonder if it knows his name 
And if across our view it came 
Some bit of cheering news to tell, 
To say that he is fine and well. 

We fancy every breeze above 
Brings us a message of his love. 

He seemed to know that some day he 
Would sail the eagles' lonely sea, 
And since he's made his choice and said 
He'll serve his country overhead, 
And risk the dangers of the sky 
To keep Old Glory floating high, 

We'll gamely SMILE, and breathe a prayer 
To God to guard our boy up there. 

Commissioned Second Lieutenant, 
May 25, 1918. 

San Leon Aerial Gunnery School, 
Houston, Texas, June, 191 8. 

Dear Folks : 

I haven't heard from you since I received 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 31 

my commission and thought perhaps you 
hadn't received my telegram, so I was glad 
when one of the boys wrote me that you 
knew it. I suppose father got home and 
you had the news from him. I sure was 
glad to see him. 

At present, and most likely for a month 
or more, I am at the San Leon Aerial Gun- 
nery School. It's located about half a mile 
from the water and twelve feet above sea 
level. (At the time of the last storm, 1915, 
this place was rather wet.) It's in the part 
of the country that "God forgot." It's all 
free range land around here, so we see any 
number of herds of horses and cattle. We 
do all our air shooting out over the water, 
but we could shoot in any direction and 
never come within three miles of a house. 

We live in tents with no floors and it 
rained and stormed on three successive 
nights, and my tent (three in a tent) was 
about the only one that stayed up all three 
nights. We have no lighting facilities and 
are seven miles from town, and the only way 
to get there is to walk, so when it gets dark 
we've got to go to bed. The mosquitoes 
aren't bad, as we have a mosquito bar over 



32 GRANVILLE 

our beds, but, because of the cattle, there 
are any number of flies. 

There is no well here as yet, as they 
haven't struck water, so they haul water in 
a truck from town, but because of the storm 
there were thirty-six hours we were without 
drinking water. The mess tent went down 
all three nights, and as all the water was 
used for drinking our meals haven't been 
what they might have been. 

We each have our own mess kit here and 
eat the same grub as the enlisted men, only 
we have to pay a dollar a day for it, but 
that's one of the privileges of an officer. 

Most of the snakes have been killed off 
now but there was a nice rattler in the tent 
next to ours one morning. Outside of rat- 
tlers the only other snakes they have are 
copperheads, moccasins, and a few other 
equally as harmless varieties. So far the 
only things I have located in my shoes in the 
morning have been two tarantulas and one 
centipede and I ended their happy exist- 
ences. We shake everything and examine it 
thoroughly before we put it on. There are 
any number of horned-toads, chameleons, 
grass lizards, etc., but we don't even notice 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 33 

them any more. Scorpions are getting 
scarce also. 

The swimming isn't so bad, but after 
you get in you have to walk a mile to get to 
water deep enough to swim in. I haven't 
been so crazy about it as I was at first. One 
day I was the last one to come out and the 
fellows near shore yelled, "Hey, Granny! 
Look out for the shark!" Well, I thought 
that was a pretty old one, so I swam out a 
ways and then I happened to look toward 
shore and saw a nice big shark fin cutting 
the water between me and the shore! Well, 
to be frank, I wished for old mother earth 
more than I ever did in my wildest ride in 
a plane. I kept from attracting his atten- 
tion for about ten hours (so it seemed) and 
then he went away and I didn't waste any 
time getting to shore. (Sort of strategic re- 
treat-like. ) The fellows thought that I had 
seen the shark coming, and also that he was 
nearer the shore than I, so I swam out to get 
out of his way. They said I used good head 
work, so I let them keep right on believing 
it, but if I'd ever seen him at first, I would 
have made for the shore if I'd had to walk. 

I'm afraid I'm slated for a darn instruc- 



34 GRANVILLE 

tor's job in aerial gunnery, but I hope that it 
won't go through. Of course it's in the line 
of a promotion, and I may be of more use as 
an instructor than otherwise — but neverthe- 
less, I'd rather see active service. The 
"boss" told me to stay at San Leon for a 
while, but that "the war won't end in a year 
and you'll not be hung on a peg here but 
will get to see active service soon after you 
get this work going properly." So I shut up 
like a soldier but went over to my tent and 
cried like a baby because I won't get across 
as soon as I'd like. But after thinking it 
over for a while, I decided it was a rather 
selfish way of looking at it so my only hope 
is that Washington won't approve the 
recommendation. 

Next day: I got the dreaded notice to 
start instructing to-day. I have about fifty 
lieutenants to instruct and am responsible 
for about a dozen machine guns. My work 
isn't hard and is interesting, but I wish they 
hadn't made me an instructor. 

Had a visit to-day from the major and 
staff in charge of flying, and he tried his 
hand at aerial gunnery, scoring fifty-seven 
out of two hundred and thirty-five. He 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 35 

asked me what was the best anyone in the 
class had made and I told him one hundred 
and sixty-two. Then he had me take a crack 
at it, and I made two hundred and seven. It 
was a lot of fun. 

Right now I'm putting in more hours 
than anyone else in the barracks. From 
eight to twelve in the morning and two to 
five in the afternoon I'm working on aerial 
gunnery. I do some shooting myself and 
also coach. It helps my work a lot to watch 
for the faults of others in their shooting. 
Then from nine in the evening until four- 
thirty in the morning I'm on night bomb 
dropping. I don't work all night, though, 
as I get a good "cat-nap" while waiting 
for my turn. I lie down on a plank and in 
forty seconds I'm asleep, so I get plenty of 
rest. 

Just saw a bad landing. The pilot barely 
skinned over a ditch. He most likely didn't 
break anything, unless it was one of the com- 
mandments. 

It is noon now, but I'm going to take a 
nap. 

So long. 

Granny. 



36 GRANVILLE 

San Leon Aerial Gunnery School, 

Houston, Texas, July, 191 8. 
Dear Dad : 

I wrote Friday or Saturday, but thought 
I would drop you a little birthday note. 
I'm still on the job at San Leon. I put in 
half the day as an instructor and the other 
half shooting or grading the other fellow's 
shooting from another ship. As our targets 
are in the water, practically all our work is 
out over the water. We have tow targets, 
surprise bob targets, and shadow shooting. 
It's wonderfully interesting and is really life 
insurance for us. 

We saw a ship (steamer) from Denmark 
to-day pulling into Texas City. We fired a 
salute and circled around about fifty feet 
from them and thirty feet above the water. 
There were two ladies on the bridge, with 
the captain looking at us through the 
glasses, so I took off my goggles and helmet 
and gave them a good Minnesota smile and 
threw a kiss. The kiss was immediately 
exchanged for two Danish ones which my 
pilot claimed when we got down. I let him 
tell his story and then I explained to whom 
they were really thrown. 




"The" Bombing _ Crew 

"^G r an ny "and " B lU " 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 37 

My old pilot, Bill Hawley, is also an 
instructor here, so I haven't been up with 
him for some time. He lived up to my 
expectations the other day when a cadet shot 
off both control wires on the elevators. He 
yelled to Bill and told him what he had 
done and Bill said, "Sit tight and we'll come 
out O.K." Well, as long as the engine was 
on, everything was right side up, but, of 
course, when the engine is shut off the ship 
dives straight down. Bill drove back to 
the landing field and shut off the engine and 
let it die. Then he put on the engine every 
so often and it would pull up the ship's nose. 
He practiced that all the way down and in 
the last dive he figured just when to pull up 
on the engine, right before it hit. A ten 
foot miscalculation and both of them would 
have "gone West" and ten feet goes by 
quickly when you're going ninety miles per 
hour. But he made a perfect landing. It's 
the first case on record of a man coming 
down with both flipper wires cut and being 
able to tell of it. 

I'm trying to get permission to pass my 
R. M. A. test, but hardly expect to get 
the chance. We lost three men here 



38 GRANVILLE 

last week, which is starting off pretty 
bad. 

I went to the M. E. church in Houston 
yesterday and heard a wonderful sermon 
and also some wonderful music. There 
was one solo by a young girl that sure was 
a peach. When she finished there was a 
deathlike silence for a bit and then they gave 
her an ovation of hand clapping that would 
do justice to a presidential candidate. 

It seems good to go to church and sit in a 
cool, quiet pew and think and dream and 
rest. We have very little time for serious 
thoughts during the week except for a 
couple of minutes after some accident. 

I want to remind you, although I really 
don't think you need it, that a good, healthy, 
honest-to-goodness handshake means more 
to a stranger in khaki than you ever would 
imagine. The boys speak of the handshake 
the first chance they get afterward. And 
don't be afraid to introduce a fellow around, 
and if possible, to some one near his own 
age. He likes to meet the older folks too, 
but some of the older folks seem to have 
such a funny opinion of a boy in khaki. 
They don't seem to think that there are boys 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 39 

who used to go to their church who are in 
khaki and in some other town, State, or 
country perhaps, and in a strange church 
themselves. For example, nine out of ten of 
the older ladies IVe met at church ask me 
if either one of my parents are living and 
they seem so surprised when I tell them that 
they're both very much alive. I thought 
for a while it was my appearance that made 
them ask, but the other fellows all have had 
the same experience, so I guess it can't be 
that. 

Then, don't let any lady, or man either, 
get started talking on 'Vhat an awful war 
this is and what a pity it is that so many fine 
young men have to go to France to get 
killed" and so on, etc. The fellows know 
it's no pink tea we're going to, but we don't 
like to hear a continual line of gloom and 
sorrow about it. Tell him you're glad to see 
him in khaki and proud of him for it, and 
that you've got a boy in service yourself and 
proud of him. Then remember his name, if 
possible, and at least remember his face. 
Every one he meets is a stranger, and if he 
can remember you out of a hundred stran- 
gers he's met, you ought to be able to re- 



40 GRANVILLE 

member him when you see him next. For 
example, I stopped at a hotel in Galveston 
one Saturday night and the clerk at the desk 
saw me for only a couple of minutes. I re- 
turned in two weeks and as I stepped into 
the doorway, the clerk called me by name 
and even remembered my room number. 
You may say that that's his business, but it's 
also a church member's business to at least 
remember a stranger's face, and if he or 
she is a good church member, to remember 
the stranger's name. It's rather discourag- 
ing when you say, "Howdy?" with your 
very best smile to some one on the street, 
whom you've met in church, and have him 
look at you with a surprised look and an- 
swer, "Howdy" — as though he were bestow- 
ing a great favor on you by answering. 

If you invite him out to dinner, try and 
have some young people over for him to 
meet. I don't know what restrictions there 
are in regard to the bunch of fellows sta- 
tioned near you, but I know they'll get Sun- 
day off, so make the church a place they'll 
want to go to when they do get off, not only 
for the spiritual inspiration they might get 
but where they can meet people of the right 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 41 

sort. A fellow has to meet some one, and if 
he can't do it in a church, he'll go where he 
can. 

Tell every boy in khaki before he gets 
out that you want to see him in church next 
Sunday or know the reason why. Ask him 
if there is anyone there whom he wants to 
meet and treat him so he'll want to come 
back and bring a fellow with him. 

This may be all unnecessary, but if you're 
already doing it, it may make you feel better 
to know just what a soldier's opinions are 
about it. 

One thing more. Take a tip and try not 
to ask any soldier any "shop questions" — at 
least not any flyer. I've been asked, "If 
your engine stops, what do you do?"- — 
"What is a tail-spin?" — at least one hun- 
dred times each; also — "How do you flap 
your wings?" — "Why do they run along the 
ground before they go up in the air?" — 
"Can you get down if your engine stops?" — 
"How did you feel the first time you went 
up?" I got so sick of explaining, or trying 
to explain, a few of the above questions to 
some ladies, who couldn't tell an engine 
from a propeller, that I handed them an 



42 GRANVILLE 

awful line of bunk about "cranking the en- 
gine in the air" and "putting your air hooks 
in a cloud," etc. They finally asked me 
what the white hatband stood for and I said, 
"For purity!" and one of them looked at me 
and said, "O, I bet you are fooling." Some 
compliment! 

Must close now, as I start flying at 6 :45. 

Love and birthday greetings. 

Granny. 

San Leon Aerial Gunnery School, 

Houston, Texas, August, 191 8. 
Dear Brothers : 

I sure am a helluva correspondent, but 
I'm kept so busy that there's no chance to 
write evenings so you'll have to excuse me. 
I sure was glad to hear from mother and 
from father that the grounds were being 
kept up at home. Have you got a flagpole 
in the yard yet? 

I've acquired one bad habit while in the 
army. (Show this to mother and the whole 
letter, if you care to, for she's a good scout) . 
Yes, the army has led me into a habit that 
I've always despised and vowed I'd never 
do even if others of my friends did. I've 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 43 

often thought I'd be the last man on earth 
to acquire such a habit, but the temptation 
and the satisfaction of the after effects were 
too much for me. I tried not to yield but 
did it once and then yielded to — ^using 
powder after a shave. Yes, the army makes 
or breaks you. 

They've got another one on me too. At 
a banquet the other night when they passed 
the cigars they handed me a package of 
gum and said, "Granny's cigar." You see 
I haven't succumbed to that vice as yet. 

My Boy Scout first-aid work came in 
mighty handy day before yesterday. Our 
only doctor had gone to Ellington field with 
an injured pilot when a kid on guard got 
struck by lightning. I got him to breathing 
and finally brought him to, and the doctor 
and some of the ofiicers complimented me 
on my work. I thought of Ernest and 
wondered if he remembered his Boy Scout 
first aid. Ask him, and tell him, too, that 
Whisky, the camp dog, has eight pups, and 
they have made their home under my cot. 

We had two pilots visit us, and they made 
some rather interesting remarks. They're 
just back from overseas. Neither of them 



44 GRANVILLE 

had ever shot a machine gun in the air until 
they crossed the lines and got into a scrap. 
One of them had his gun jam after two 
shots, and, as he said, he "didn't know how 
to fix the darn thing," so he "kept it pointed 
at the German, who turned tail when he saw 
it." He said, "We came through by the 
grace of God." They lost one third of their 
companions the first two weeks. 

They also said no field overseas gave any- 
where near the aerial gunnery practice that 
we have at San Leon nor had the equipment. 
We had a compliment from the colonel too, 
who is inspector for the air service. He 
said he saw more real activity and work go- 
ing on here than at any other aerial school in 
the U. S. We're doing now, in a week of 
concentrated work and effort, what they 
used to make us take six weeks to do. 

I'm still trying to convince the command- 
ing officer that Fd be of more use abroad 
than here, but with little success as yet. He 
has even taken back his promise to ship me 
across in September. I may send some stuff 
home soon. They are limiting officers' 
overseas luggage to one trunk, one handbag, 
and one bed roll, so I might as well send 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 45 

home some things; but when you get the 
bundle don't think I've crossed the pond. 

You warned me to be sure and look over 
our ship before going up. Well, every so 
often they open and censor our letters but 
you can be darned sure every ship gets a 
good looking over before going up if it has 
only been on the ground for three minutes, 
and after looking it over thoroughly one of 
us stays with the ship until we leave. Last 
week four ships from one hangar fell in one 
afternoon. I hear they have a new crew 
there now. You can't imagine how I hate 
these damned Dutchmen. I could choke 
one to death with my bare hands without 
batting an eyelash, and then they "interne 
some for the period of the war!" And they 
are the cause for the loss of millions of dol- 
lars' worth of food stuffs, war material, and 
good American lives. I hope they will soon 
begin to line them up in front of a firing 
squad. That's the only way to stop it. 

I'm through making friends in the serv- 
ice. They got "Matty" the other day. He 
was a Beta from Ohio who went through 
Ground School with me on "K Porch." 

Of course, a lot of the trouble is called 



46 GRANVILLE 

"carelessness." For example: yesterday a 
ship was about to take off when the pilot 
thought his controls felt loose, and he took a 
look at a coupling (never before examined) 
and found both cotter pins out and also, of 
course, the wire that saf etied the cotter pins. 
The cotter pins are in a pin that goes into the 
coupling from the top, so the pin could not 
possibly have fallen out but must have been 
mislaid, as it was not in the coupling or in 
the bottom of the ship. The result would be 
that the ship would climb O.K., but when 
it was nosed off, the coupling would come 
off and a nose dive would be the result with 
no chance of coming out. A fellow, here in 
our squadron, got killed last week from a 
fifteen-hundred-foot nose dive. I really 
can't tell you just why I despise the dirty, 
sneaking, underhanded Huns. It's not so 
bad to have our boys killed in battle over 
there where they've got a chance to even 
up, but when they get it on this side from 
some dirty Hun — that's what makes me boil 
inside like I never did before. If I should 
for any reason get kicked out of the aviation, 
I would ask for nothing better than to get in 
the front line trenches with a bayonet and 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 47 

the memory of my friends with me, and I'd 
go through to Berlin or hell, one of the two, 
if I were judged by the commandment, 
"Thou shalt not kill." My prayer now is 
to be allowed to live until I can even up for 
a few fellows who were not given a chance, 
and then I won't care what happens. Per- 
haps I should not have written in this way 
and don't think I'm getting rough because 
of the way I express myself. You are the 
only ones I can talk to as I feel, and I've got 
to "open up and cut loose" once in a while 
with part of what I feel. 

Please don't let it worry you or I'll never 
write this way again. There is absolutely 
no cause for worry, as all the possible 
"jazzers" can be discovered if the ship is 
properly inspected, and ours always is. 
They don't allow any tape on the flying wire 
any more, as it offered too good a protection 
for filed wires, and any mechanic is subject 
to be taken up in the front seat. (Most 
fatalities occur in the front seat. I ride in 
the back — pilots in the front) for the first 
trip in the morning. Well, 'nuff said of 
that. 

I suppose I might get in bad if the above 



48 GRANVILLE 

should ever be printed, but it can't be de- 
nied. It's all the truth. Maybe in a couple 
of years America will wake up and begin to 
realize we are at war! An Englishman 
(three years in war) here, just from the 
front one month, says, "We'll be bloody 
lucky to lick the bastards." He admits that 
if the Allies can hold "the Dutchmen" for 
two years, we'll be safe from being licked 
and then he says it'll be a battle between our 
bombing and the German scouts as to who'll 
win. 

Must close, 

Granny. 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 49 



DIARY 



This being the 
Diary of One, 
Granville G — 



And expressing 
In good, bad, 
Or, in most cases, 
Plain English 
His thoughts 
And 

Experiences; and. 
Being an accurate 
Chronicling 
Of his actions, 
YOU are warned 
Against reading 
Same. 

And, as you 
Have been 
Warned and, for 
That reason, are 
Sure to read 
Aforesaid Diary, 
You are requested 
Not to repeat. 
Comment upon. 
Or criticize. 
But remember 
How it would look 
IF ALL of YOUR 
Actions were 



Put in print, 

And then hold 

Your peace. 

If anyone. 

Because of 

Reading this. 

Should become 

Disillusioned, 

And should 

The esteem 

In which you 

Hold aforesaid G. G. 

Be lost by 

The same. 

He regrets same, 

But still 

Is NOT sorry, 

As the truth 

Will out 

And he is not ashamed 

Of the truth. 

Wishing 

You all 

A Merry Christmas 

And a Happy New 

Year 
As ever. 
Everywhere 
And always 
To everyone 

Granny. 



50 GRANVILLE 

Sat. Aug. 31. 

Financially confined to the post. Failed 
to call for my check during the morning as 
I thought that would be plenty of time in 
the afternoon and, when I did call, Lt. L. 
had left on a trip to inspect the possible sites 
for a new field at M. (Strange that five or 
six officers have to inspect the new field 
every week end. I hear that the treatment 
by the people of M. is nothing short of 
wonderful. Bet the boys have a great time 
if we move there. No Marines, Dough- 
boys, or Chinstraps within sixty miles.) 
After I had decided that I didn't care to go 
to town to-day Lt. O. sent twenty bucks out 
to me from town. I sure am glad that I 
loaned it to him. 

Mon. Sept. 2. (Labor Day). 

Again the villain awoke me early 
(eleven) and led me off to meet some of his 
lady friends. Funny that I didn't meet 
some of the ladies when I first hit this coun- 
try instead of now, when I'm planning on 
leaving any day. We played the piano and 
sang and went to Oyster and had supper and 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 51 

then went out on the speedway along the 
ocean side of the island on the beach. There 
was a strong wind blowing so there were no 
mosquitoes, and we sure had a time that I'll 
remember for some time. The girl that was 
with me was a real girl. Not a painted doll, 
a would-be actress, a wax baby, or a wild 
woman, but a real girl. I got reckless and 
told her so too. Too bad that I hadn't met 
her away back in Feb., but maybe it was a 
good thing that I didn't. This war of late 
has been rather a social affair with me, but 
I'm not neglecting my work and I hope to 
get "overseas" any day. This sure is the 
worst war I ever was in. 



Tues. Sept. 3. 

Took a good rest to-day. Not that I 
needed it, but I've been getting up too early 
of late thanks to Lt. R. 

Wed. Sept. 4. 

After putting in a good day's work, Lts. 
S., R., D., and myself piled into Lt. R's. 
"Powerful Motor" and went to the dance at 
S. B. Lt. S. and I met two of Lt. S's. old 



52 GRANVILLE 

sweethearts from Houston and spent such an 
enjoyable evening dancing that we forgot 
the time, and the ladies missed their train 
back to Houston. We tried to steal Lt. R's 
car but we couldn't make it run. Then we 
found out that there was no room in the 
hotel for them so we "bought" a car (191 2 
Henry) and started for H., twenty-seven 
miles away. We averaged three punctures 
per mile and finally spoiled our average by 
coming in the last five miles on the rim. We 
left S. B. at twelve and managed to make H. 
by about four-thirty which was making 
better time than I expected. Lt. S. and I 
then had breakfast and managed to get a 
jitney to the field (Ellington) just in time 
so that we caught the gunnery ships leaving 
for San Leon. I slept all the way to San 
Leon and didn't awake until the pilot dove 
for the field. Rather a sleepless night and 
I'm on for O. D. to-night. 

Thurs. Sept. 5. 

Took a look at a DH4 with a Liberty to- 
day and they sure look good enough to me. 
Had a dual control, scarf mount, room for 
ten magazines and was painted olive on the 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 53 

top and gray white on the bottom as camou- 
flage. 

Took a good ride with Bill Hawley out 
over the bay. Would give most anything if 
we could work together across the pond. 
He sure is the best in the world. 



Fri. Sept. 6. 

On as officer of the day last night. Had 
a cool wave, or northerner, strike us, and as 
a result it was necessary for me to put on 
three blankets to keep warm. It sure was 
great to feel the cold wind blowing. Lt. K. 
was an hour late in relieving me as O. D. but 
managed to get off in time to go with Lt. 
R. to S. B. Danced a few dances and then 
we decided to beat it for home. 

Sun. Sept. 8. 

Drove to Alvin with Lt. R. to see his girl 
and took two shotguns and 100 rounds with 
us. Had a lot of fun shooting at birds from 
the moving car. If the birds only had 
known how safe they were when they sat 
still on the fence they would have kept still, 
but when they flew around they were in 



54 GRANVILLE 

danger of flying in front of the gun and 
getting hit. 

Lt. R. and his lady were somewhat an- 
noyed by the presence of his lady's little ten- 
year-old sister, so I took the little girl hunt- 
ing with me. The only way that I could 
keep her interested was to kill a bird every 
so often and as a result it was necessary for 
me to kill about a dozen . . . (Texas 
game laws prevent me from stating just 
what they were.) I took the birds in to 
Alvin and gave them to Mrs. C. and had 
supper with them. Was glad to see them 
again. They certainly make a fellow feel 
at home, and do it by just not making any 
fuss any more than if it was one of the 
family in the house. Came back with Lt. R. 
in his "Powerful Motor." 

Mon. Sept. 9. 

Back on the job. The cool spell is still 
with us, and in addition there are about a 
million squadrons of mosquitoes that fly in 
battle formation doing pursuit work. They 
get through the net some way. IVe heard 
that the way that they do it is to push all the 
smaller-sized (by smaller sized we mean 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 55 

about the size of a humming bird) mosqui- 
toes through the netting and let them get 
full on a poor soldier (who, by the way, 
never has a chance to get full since the State 
went dry). I hear after a mosquito bites 
once it soon dies. I sure have been the cause 
of any number of deaths daily in the 
mosquito family if that is the case. 

Stayed home for a change this evening. 
Camp sure is great in the evening after 
supper when the flying has stopped and 
everything seems so strangely quiet. Per- 
haps I noticed it more so this evening as 
there is no flying at all after three in the 
afternoon, while up to to-day there was fly- 
ing up to seven-thirty. Some of the fellows 
were throwing or pitching horseshoes; a 
small group were starting for the bay with 
their bathing suits over their shoulders, and 
a half a dozen were putting in their units 
of exercise by boxing, the men taking their 
turn with gloves. Over it all you could 
hear the piano and the Victrola at the "Y." 
The wind that has been blowing for a 
number of days has stopped and its absence 
helps to make everything so quietlike. It^s 
a great life. It's a great life especially 



56 GRANVILLE 

when you are on the Hdqts. Staff with 
a fine bunch of fellows and can have the use 
of the equipment when it's not in use. But 
still Fd rather be across than here. 

All my pals have left for Hoboken, and 
you know what that means. It sorta gets 
under my skin to have them go and me stay, 
and as the fellows say: "Granny's on the 
warpath. Watch your step." I feel just out 
and out "ornery." Yesterday I confined 
seven pilot instructors to the post for a week 
(six 2nd Lts. and one ist Lt.) for violat- 
ing field rules. To-day I stuck five more 
for a week each, (including the Assistant 
Officer in Charge of Flying and two State 
Commanders) so that keeps over half the 
staff on the post and part of Hdqts. staff. I 
wish you could have heard them rave. 

I'm beginning to show some evidence of 
what I must admit is poor judgment, but it's 
the result of a bad case of "oversea" sickness. 
Everyone tells me I'm foolish, and that I'm 
giving up a good position and a chance at 
something even better, but / want to get 
across, I've got an easy job since I've gotten 
things going so that there's not nearly as 
much work as at first, and anyone, almost, 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 57 

could take care of the work now. There's 
talk (and plans drawn) of a new field for 
this work, larger than any other in the U. S., 
and I'd be given a place there and promo- 
tion if I'd stay; while across, they say it's 
almost impossible to get a promotion. I'll 
get a promotion if I stay here, but then the 
chances are that I'll have to stay in this work 
so I'm trying to kick out now. I think I 
may be able to get across as a bomber, for 
the Lord alone knows when any pilots will 
cross. I may not be able to do it, but I'm at 
least trying my darndest. May not get any 
action for a month or two as it is, but I'm 
starting now. Boy, I wouldn't have the face 
to face anyone after this mess is cleaned up 
and admit that I, a single man with no one 
dependent on me, had been an instructor or 
officer in charge of some work or field for a 
couple of years, while married men or men 
with dependents had "gone West," doing my 
work in France. 

A fellow has to cash in some day, and I 
consider myself fortunate that I have an op- 
portunity because of my age and physique to 
cash in, if need be, in doing some real work 
for a real cause. Of course, I'm not plan- 



58 GRANVILLE 

ning on being killed in France, but neither 
are any of the other boys, and some one is 
bound to be fooled. I'm not afraid of being 
bumped off because IVe come pretty close 
to getting it, and really expected it, but 
thank the Lord, I didn't get a yellow streak 
when I saw what I was up against. No, 
"going West" is the easiest thing in the 
world to do, but it's the folks at home for 
whom it is not easy and whom I think about. 
I hope that they feel as I do about it — that 
it's a privilege not offered to everyone to 
make the so-called supreme sacrifice if need 
be in such a noble cause. I'd do it a thou- 
sand, million or more times, if possible, 
rather than have anyone in this country go 
through what the Belgian people have, and 
I know almost every man in the service feels 
the same way. 

To get back to my trying to get across. 
There are any number of fellows who would 
be tickled to death to have my job and to 
stay on it for the period of the war, but, to 
be frank, I'd a lot rather be pushing up 
daisies in France when this mess is cleaned 
up than be on instructional work in this 
country. Surely, some one has to do it, but 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 59 

let those who want to, do it. I don't want 
to! 



Tues. Sept. 10. 

Electric lights and everything. The long 
expected squadron has arrived and will re- 
lieve, to some extent, the shortage of labor. 
With electric lights and nice showers this is 
quite a field. You never appreciate the 
little conveniences until you have to go with- 
out them. For instance, sugar in the lemon- 
ade. We are saving it for the soldiers in the 
army. Went to Galveston to see my lady 
this evening and was planning on a swim, 
but got there too late, so we went up to the 
C.P. and danced for a bit and then went 
home and sat on the porch until mother 
asked if we knew what time it was. On my 
way downtown I ran into some students 
from the post and had a hard time to keep 
from being enticed off on to a party of 
theirs. Got up early and caught the inter- 
urban back to Dickenson and then had to 
"buy" a car to get out to the field. 

Wed. Sept 11. 

Everybody was surprised to see me 



6o GRANVILLE 

around so early all dressed up. Like 
Postum — "There's a reason." A number of 
the old pilots who had moved to Ellington 
moved back here to-day, Bill Howley 
among them. Seems like old times to have 
them around. Went out gunning in the 
Saxon and did all my shooting from the car 

and succeeded in getting four nice , 

which we had for supper. I went out across 
the range and would scare them up with 
the car running in low and shoot from the 
car out through the front. It sure was great 
sport. The car got pretty hot — and so did 
I — so when it began to miss I left it in the 
middle of the trail and walked to the field 
about a half mile away. 

Thurs. Sept. 12. 

Put in some good practice on shadow 
shooting to-day. The "shadows" consisted 
of a few blue cranes or anything else that we 
could locate. To-morrow I will take out a 
class on the sea sled, so I took a jazz in it this 
evening and tried to see if the thing was 
strong enough to stand some quick turns. 
It skids around them in a hurry. The next 
ones that they make they are going to make 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 6i 

stronger, but this one is safe enough. Took 
Lt. L. in the sled, and he lost his goggles but 
said that he had a good ride. Will have to 
get the sled for a long jazz some evening. 
It carries about two hours gas and hits up 
about forty-five. When you hit rough water 
it sure gives you a spanking. 

Fri. Sept. 13. 

Lucky Friday. Put in a good day's work 
with the "Keewee Spad" with a class of 
pilots and bombers. Worked from 6:45 
A. M. to 5 130 P. M.^ and that is a mighty 
long day of actual work for me now. Would 
watch their shooting, grouping, accuracy, 
speed, clearing of jams, and general hand- 
ling of the gun. Took them out one at a 
time, and if they did some good work, I 
would zoom the sled off the water on the 
way to the landing. Had a lot of fun doing 
that and skidding around the turns with the 
pilots watching the wind take their goggles 
off. 

Took Bill out for a ride as he was taking 
the work, and he was the fastest man in the 
lo^ on clearing jams. When I see how little 
some of them use their heads when they get 



62 GRANVILLE 

in trouble I get more confidence in my own 
ability. One of them was going to push a 
live round into the chamber and grab it 
with the extractors on the bolt and pull it 
back and have the ejector throw it out. It 
was a nice idea, only I stopped him and 
reminded him that his tension was dropped 
and the spade grip off, and that in order to 
have the extractors grip the shell there was 
a good chance that the cap would be primed 
and that would put most of his partly 
stripped gun right through his belly and it 
might be hard on his stomach. I once saw 
a machine gun get five fellows at one crack, 
and I Ve got a lot of respect for them. 

I now have a flunkie to make my bed, 
sweep out, keep my tent straightened up, 
and scrub the floor every couple of days. 
Didn't request to have a man, but they gave 
me one. They sure are treating me fine, but 
it won't keep me from going oversea first 
chance I get, which won't be more than two 
weeks off and maybe only a few days. You 
can never tell. 

If it comes before the folks are back from 
the coast, I'm not going to let them know 
until I hit France, but will have Bill send 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 63 

some letters for me every so often. I would 
spoil their vacation for they would wish 
that they were back home, as there might be 
a chance to see me before I left and then 
they'd worry while I was on the pond, so I 
guess that it's better to do it the other way. 
Counting my chickens before they are 
hatched all right, but that's the only way 
I'll have it, as I sure don't want to stay here 
for the war. If by any chance I'd have to 
stay here I'd get married. Who to? Dam- 
fino! Why? Mostly because I shouldn't 
feel right about being a single man on this 
job and sending the married man over there 
to do my fighting. If Uncle Sammy won't 
let me go across, I'll have to get married to 
make fne feel right about it. I'd a helluva 
lot rather go across though. 

Sat. Sept. 14. 

Didn't have any work to do to-day, but 
some of the students wanted to shoot traps, 
so I went out with them. I've got to pick a 
trap-shooting team to shoot against a num- 
ber of teams starting next Sat. with Texas 
cavalry. We sure will have to lick that 
crowd. 



64 GRANVILLE 

Went over to T. C. with Lt. R. this even- 
ing to the dance. Sat out the first four 
dances just watching the colored musicians. 
One was continually going to sleep on his 
bass viol, but would always give his head a 
good jerk in unison with his bow. The man 
on the fiddle was making it talk in squeaky 
pleading notes, while the old pappie on the 
guitar kept his head cocked on one side lis- 
tening to the little piece that he was playing. 
The man on the slide trombone was asleep 
the whole evening, to all appearances, but 
came to life every so often and let out a noise 
more like the sweet music of a cow's "beller" 
than that from a brass musical instrument. 

The time was rotten to dance by, but no 
one worried about that. 

Sun. Sept. 15. 

Went hunting for a bit this evening and 
took a look at my car where I left it last 
Wed. but couldn't get it going. Usually be- 
tween the three of us we have one car at least 
in commission, but we're out of luck just 
now. 

Heard to-day that Class V. from here got 
their overseas on Friday. According to that 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 65 

I ought to get mine some time during this 
coming week. Can't make me mad. 

Lt. L. just asked why I had picked him 
to get up early in the morning and give the 
students their calisthenics and, as he called 
on my girl once last week, I told him with a 
sober, serious face that some of these student 
officers had to be taught that it was not good 
military form for them to call on a staff 
officer's girl. He didn't know that I had 
found out about it so soon. At first he didn't 
crack a smile, and then I had to smile and 
give it all away. 

Just hear a night bomb raiding up about 
10,000 feet. They come down here from 
Ell. F. doing their night formation cross- 
country practice work. Are equipped and 
have practice landing with both parachute 
and ordinary flares, so that eliminates the 
danger of a forced landing that there was 
when we took the course. Sure hope and 
pray that my "overseas" will come through 
this week. 

Mon. Sept. 16. 

Had a heavy rain to-day that left the field, 
or, rather, the camp, a sea of mud. I was 



66 GRANVILLE 

not in my tent when it started to rain, but 
some of the fellows said they saw some en- 
listed men working near by go and tie up 
my tent so as to keep the rain out. Any of 
the other fellows who did not close their 
tents when the rain hit got their stuff all wet. 
This is not the first time that I have found 
my tent closed because of a rain when the 
other fellows' tents were left open. Got a 
drag with some of the boys around camp all 
right. 

The streets have no shell or gravel on 
them as yet, and, of course, all the transpor- 
tation trucks get stuck in the mud, for none 
of them have chains. Then, again, when it 
is dry it is dry as powder, and the wind picks 
up the dust any place that is so fortunate as 
to have a wind blowing. If you don't git it 
one way, you get it another. 

My request for "overseas" went to Wash, 
on the 30th of last month, after about a two 
or three weeks stay somewhere between here 
and Ell. Field, so I figure that my reply 
ought to get here within the next few days. 

Tues. Sept. 17. 

Went into Dickenson with Bill this even- 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 67 

ing and got a much-needed haircut. When 
we were going past the officers' mess one of 
the Chinks stopped me and asked, "Looten- 
ant, watsa malla you? Alle time no workie. 
Alle time no B-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z- (indi- 
cating flying in the air). Alle time walk 
round and round like boss." Bill about 
died laughing. 

Last Saturday I saw some of them trying 
to fish down on the shore, but the fish would 
always fall off, so I went down and took a 
look at their hook and found that they had 
it buried safely in a big chunk of beef. I 
fixed it up right for them, and when they 
saw the results they were tickled to death. 
The next day they wanted me to eat some of 
the fish, but when I saw that they had them 
fried with heads and fins on I explained 
that I really didn't care for fish. 

Wed. Sept. 18. 

Some more dope in the paper about the 
trap shoot, and the C. O. says that if we 
don't lick them we needn't come back here 
unless we want to be thrown in the guard- 
house. Saw some good fights at the ''Y" 
this evening. 



68 GRANVILLE 

Have got it figured that my "overseas" 
ought to arrive sometime in the next two 
days. Hope that they come before the trap 
shoot, as I can be on my v^ay to New York 
in a hurry in case we lose. 

Thurs. Sept. 19. 

Saw a pair of R. goggles that were in the 
smash yesterday and in spite of their being 
shattered to a thousand pieces there was not 
a bit of glass that came loose on the inside. 
If they had been plate glasses they would 
have cut the man's eyes out. I think I'll 
keep my R. goggles in spite of what the 
authorities say. 

Fri. Sept. 20. 

WOW! It sure did rain last night. It 
poured for over three hours, and the way 
that the wind blew I thought that the tent 
was coming down any minute. If it weren't 
fastened to the floor as well as to the ground, 
it sure would have gone over. I enjoyed the 
storm at that. 

No flying, range or trap-shooting, so Lt. 
R. and I went hunting. When we started we 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 69 

agreed not to shoot anything unless we were 
going to eat it, but after we had walked over 
the range for a couple of hours we decided 
that we didn't care for a diet of blue cranes, 
logs, empty bottles, etc., so we discarded the 
agreement. Was good and tired when I re- 
turned as the wet ground made the walking 
heavy, but I changed my clothes and went 
to an enlisted man's dance that I was chaper- 
oning. Had a good time at the dance which 
was on an asphalt tennis court. 



Sat. Sept. 21. 

The blankety, blankety, blank, blank, 
blank bunch of four-flushing tin soldiers 
called off the trap meet to-day! Some 
sports ! They have to go to a training camp 
Thurs. so they said that they had to get 
ready now and couldn't shoot. Some sol- 
diers. The W. D. will have to notify them 
a week ahead of time in case they ever want 
them to move in a hurry. 

Met Lts. F. and Mike B., old ground 
school pals, in town to-day. They are just 
coming to Ell. for the course. The fellows 
that I know are getting scarcer every day as 



70 GRANVILLE 

they are sending them across pretty regu- 
larly. They have sent about a hundred 
bombers, and there are about that number 
awaiting orders. 



Mon. Sept. 23. 

Heard to-day that my name was first 
name on the list of "available bombers 
awaiting overseas orders" that is tele- 
graphed to Wash, every so often. It may 
be another rumor, but the army is full of 
those, and I once heard of one that came 
true, so you can never tell. 

Played a little soccer football this even- 
ing, and I sure got tired in a hurry. We are 
thinking of getting up a team and playing 
the student officers and also a team of basket- 
ball stars. We already have a stafif officers' 
trap-shooting team. 

Hope to get my "overseas" before very 
long, as there have been no boys sent for ten 
or twelve days and I'll surely leave with the 
next bunch. Also heard that I may be con- 
fined to post for a few days, as one of my 
enlisted men failed to bring in some am- 
munition from the traps. The C. O. 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 71 

brought it to my attention and, after finding 
out the particulars, I decided not to confine 
him, and they do not like my attitude on the 
subject. One statement that was made was, 
"Perhaps if you get a week you will be will- 
ing to confine him two weeks," but if they 
really think so they are in for a big surprise. 
The cold nights are still with us and I cer- 
tainly am glad of it. It's great to jump in 
bed at night and pull two or three blankets 
over you to keep you warm. This sure is 
the life! 



Tues. Sept. 24. 

My confinement for a week came out to- 
day. Didn't confine the enlisted man at that, 
and don't intend to if I can possibly help it. 
A couple of other fellows were put on post 
for a week and two are on indefinitely, so 
there will be plenty of company over Sun- 
day. Both squadrons are confined until 
Sunday morning, so that leaves only a few 
officers who will be off. I think I will 
recommend the man who was the cause of 
my confinement for a promotion and put it 
through too, as he is deserving of it. 



72 GRANVILLE 

We had "Liberty" or "Mystery" steak for 
supper this evening, which is the new name 
that "Brownie" has given to the hamburger 
that we receive quite often. Played some 
more football this evening and sure was 
tired, but a shower and a good rub put me in 
fine shape. I then lay on my cot and read 
a book for a change until about eleven. 
Sure is a tough life — this soldier's life. 

Some of the boys were telling of the good 
old days back when they were first turned 
loose. They give them a training now be- 
fore they turn them loose, but in those days 
nobody knew how to fly (and everybody 
thought they did). When Bill was turned 
loose he had never made a take-off or a 
landing and had only had about four and a 
half hours in the air and that with a fellow 
who had only about twenty hours himself. 
The last time he took Bill around he told 
him to make the landing and Bill had her 
nosed straight for hell when the instructor 
took the stick and pulled her nose up and 
leveled off and then pulled her tail down 
and made the landing. He turned around 
and said to Bill what Bill has often repeated 
to me as well as to others, "Some day you're 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 73 

coming down that way and you're going 
straight to hell." He climbed out and, to see 
if Bill had the guts, told him to take her 
around alone, and Bill surprised him by do- 
ing it and making a good landing — the first 
that he had ever made in his life. He told 
Bill to take her around again, and so he did, 
but he had to circle the field four times be- 
fore he could set the thing on the ground 
and, when he did set her down, he pan- 
caked her for about ten feet and didn't roll 
an inch after he hit the ground. After look- 
ing the ship over to see that she was all there 
he was sent up once more and then turned 
over to first solo field. 

On the first solo everyone is a wild bird, 
more or less, as they are all birds who have 
just been turned loose. One fellow tried to 
land fourteen times, but couldn't make it 
until the fourteenth time. Every time that 
he couldn't get down he had to go around 
the field again and try it all over again. 
Every one thought that he was going to 
crash, so they would send the ambulance 
and the wrecking crew out to pick him up 
every time they saw him coming in to land. 
When he finally did set her down and they 



74 GRANVILLE 

asked him why he didn't set her down in the 
first place he said, disgustedly, "Every time 
I'd come in to land that damn ambulance 
was in my way." That is about the way it 
seems at first. The field may be a mile 
square, but if there are a couple of ships on 
it it looks as though there wasn't room to set 
a nickel down, to say nothing of a ship. 

Another fellow had his engine go bad at 
about two thousand, and he made a dive 
for the field. When he was about half way 
down his engine started again and he was so 
surprised that he forgot to pull her nose up 
until it was almost too late. A fellow gets 
up a lot of speed when the gun is on and the 
nose down. Another bird found that his 
engine refused to stop when he pulled the 
gun to make a landing, and he got excited 
and tried to land a number of times with the 
engine on full. After a while, he happened 
to think of the switch, and so he pulled that 
and made a landing. Now they give the 
boys more time on dual and also have more 
experienced men on the care and handling 
end of it. 

I remembered the camera gun ships. No 
life belts in the rear seats and every ship tail 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 75 

heavy, but they kept on using them in spite 
of their being turned in until one day the 
government lost three good ships and four 
good men "went West." They came down 
in a spin for over two thousand feet, and 
anyone knows that a man is not going to let 
a ship spin that long unless he can't do any- 
thing else, and if a ship is not lined up right 
nothing but the grace of God will get it out 
of a spin. 

The good Lord was with J. F. when he 
got in a spin while giving an "exhibition" 
over a small town near here. They were at 
too low an altitude to stunt, but they tried a 
loop and came out cockeyed and dropped 
into a spin. Before he could begin to take 
it out, his wheels hit on the roof of a house, 
blew out both his tires but knocked him out 
of the spin and he landed in the adjoining 
field. Then there was Basky, who came 
down two thousand in a spin and piled up 
so that the whole thing was junk. And what 
happened to him? He had a bloody nose 
for about five minutes and that w^as all. It 
made a flier out of him. A fall either 
"makes or breaks" you. Thank the Lord 
mine didn't break me. 



76 GRANVILLE 

Then there was a fellow who left his land- 
ing gear on one side of a barn and he piled 
up on the other. Another bird zoomed up 
and then cocked it over in a 90° bank and 
came down in a spin all in less time than it 
takes to write this. Just as he hit he hap- 
pened to duck his head and the cowl closed 
over his head and didn't touch him. An- 
other fellow happened to have his belt un- 
fastened when he got in a spin, which ordi- 
narily would insure a fellow being bumped 
off in a smash, but, when he hit and the 
engine came back in the front seat where his 
lap ought to have been, he was thrown out 
of the seat and got away with only a few 
broken bones. . And a hundred other sim- 
ilar instances. Something or Somebody 
stepped in and did things that were beyond 
the imagination, even, of ordinary humans. 
Is it any wonder that you can't help feel that 
in spite of your doing your best there comes 
a time sometime when you have to depend 
on some stronger Power to pull you 
through? Such is life. 

Wed. Sept. 25. 

Had a heavy fog this morning that held 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 77 

up things for some time. Just a reminder, 
I suppose, that winter and its fogs are com- 
ing. Cleaned up all the work on my desk 
in good shape and gave my steno and an- 
other man a bawling out for coming late to 
work this aft. Guess that means I'm get- 
ting hard-boiled. Played a little baseball 
this evening and then boxed four "fast and 
furious" rounds with Lt. R. My long arms 
make quite a handicap for him to overcome. 
A fellow learns something new every time 
that he boxes. Wish that a fellow could get 
a little more practice at it, but most the fel- 
lows are afraid to put the gloves on for fear 
they may make fools out of themselves. O, 
well ! A man who never makes a mistake is 
a man who never tries to do anything out of 
the ordinary. 



Fri. Sept. 27. 

Put the trap shooters through a good 
practice this afternoon, for they have to 
lick the Staff Officers' team coached by 
Lt. Colby on this Sat., since they trimmed 
the boys up last Sat. As I'm coaching, I 
won't shoot on the other team. Put the Stu- 



78 GRANVILLE 

dent Cadets and Student Officers through 
two hours' drill and got away with it O. K. 
First real drill that I've had for a long time, 
and it sure did me a lot of good as well as 
the fellows whom I was drilling. 

Twenty bombers got their "overseas" to- 
day, but they overlooked me again and my 
name was sent in long before theirs. I'm 
sort of getting resigned to my fate, although 
they are bound to come some time soon. If 
this weather keeps up, I will have to unpack 
my winter stuff and pack my summer stuff 
away so that I will be able to move on ten 
minutes notice and have five minutes to 
spare. 

The photographer from E. is on the post 
to take photos of some of the officers for the 
W. D. He remembered me and the treat- 
ment I gave him when he was down here be- 
fore and he certainly showed his apprecia- 
tion. It sure pays to treat a man white. It 
was raining when he came down last and 
I told him to come over to my tent and 
make himself at home until the storm 
was over, and he felt pretty fine to have a 
nice place to lie around in. He's an old 
Mpls. boy. 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 79 

Sat. Sept. 28. 

Beat the Officers' trap team by twenty- 
nine points this forenoon and rather sur- 
prised them. Lt. D. got his captaincy to- 
day. He was feeling pretty cocky and asked 
me if my men wanted to quit while they had 
a chance. That was before the trap-shoot- 
ing started. When it was about half over 
they saw they were going to get beat, but 
they were good sports at that. They are go- 
ing to practice a little more this week, and 
if they do they will stand a good chance to 
lick my outfit next Sat. as a number of my 
best boys will finish next week. That's what 
makes the work interesting. To pick out a 
fairly good shot and show him his faults 
and then watch him improve and spring 
him as a "dark horse." I sprung one to- 
day, and he surprised everyone but me by 
his shooting, I had Lt. J. put the rest of 
them through drill so that I could watch the 
trap shoot. 

Everyone on the post has asked me out 
this week end as they know that I am con- 
fined to the post. Got lots of company any- 
way. Last night I sent Bill in to keep a date 
for me and to-night he scoots off again. By 



8o GRANVILLE 

Golly, I bet that I lose that girl. Got a very 
humorous memo, to-day. A notice from the 
E. Dept., "We are going to police up around 
the hangars about the first of the month and 
request that you remove your automobile." 
That sure is an insult to my "Speedy 
Saxon." Lt. R. got a similar one in regard 
to his "Powerful Motor" now nicknamed 
the "Rolls Rouse." 

Sun. Sept. 29. 

Not so very long before pay day. Will 
have a good-sized pay voucher this month 
as I will get my flying pay for some three 
months in addition to Sept's flying pay. 
Sure will have need for it, though, as I 
surely will get my "overseas" some time this 
month, and there is a bunch of stuff that I 
will have to get when I get ready to cross, 
such as blankets, wool fatigue suit for every- 
day use around the field, a real good pair of 
shoes and a number of other things. Would 
like to subscribe to the Fourth Liberty Loan 
but I am afraid that I won't be able to make 
it. If I get across, I will need some extra 
money, as I may not get paid for a month or 
two and will have to have some traveling 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 8i 

expenses to pay until the Govt, can refund 
it to me. Am going to put fifty bucks into a 
Corona typewriter. 

Forgot to mention an incident that hap- 
pened last Thurs. I got up early (9 
o'clock) to make a little inspection of the 
work going on on the range and the traps 
and a rain came up in a hurry. I saw it 
coming and just got the men started for the 
hut down by the targets when the rain hit 
and it sure rained hard. The men had to get 
the guns under cover in the hut so they had 
to run some 300 yds. in the rain while I 
ducked into the trap house. The trap house 
is a little hut that has a trap in it to throw 
out the clay pigeons. I was laughing at the 
sight the fellows made running in the rain 
when I felt something walk over my foot 
and looking down I saw a nice, full sized, 
sociable centipede. I lost no time in shak- 
ing him off and then I looked around and 
there was another one on the wall right be- 
side my right arm and another one just 
coming up on the board I was sitting on! I 
guess that the rain began to run under the 
boards and drove them out. I thought that 
if there was going to be any argument about 



82 GRANVILLE 

who was going to live in the place, I would 
vacate without an argument, so I went out 
in the rain. As I had no stick to kill them 
with and I had to crawl into the trap house 
on my hands and knees I decided that they 
would not be molested, at least at present, 
and took out to the hut where the other fel- 
lows were. 

Time was hanging rather heavy on my 
hands this morning when I was asked to 
help out on coaching the field football team 
and later was asked to take charge as head 
coach, and I guess I will take the job. It 
sure felt great to do a little real football 
again. A Dartmouth man has been helping 
them, so I felt right at home. 

This afternoon an automobile load of 
girls from T. C. and Alvin came to see the 
camp and kid me about being confined to 
the post. We had a nice little party — 
myself and five girls — and ended up by hav- 
ing "Fats" play the piano for us over in the 
'^Y." An enjoyable time was had by all 
present. 

We have received letters from a number 
of the boys who were in the same class with 
me but who got across to France. They are 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 83 

not up to the front lines as yet but hope to 
be there soon. Lord, how I wish I were 
with them! The twenty bombers who got 
their orders last Fri. were not ordered to 
Hoboken, as the others were, but to Garden 
City, near Hoboken, but they may be at- 
tached to the First Provisional Wing form- 
ing there. 

The ^^Boss" spoke to me to-day and asked 
me to withdraw my request for overseas and 
stay with him until spring, but nothing do- 
ing. He said that he would promise to let 
me go then, but, as a Lt. here says, "This is 
the most promising branch of the service. 
They will promise you anything." And it 
certainly is true. I wouldn't be a bit sur- 
prised if I should happen to have to stay 
here until Dec. and that they will have for- 
gotten all their promises about recom- 
mendation for promotions. Such is life in 
the army, but at that I've got no kick com- 
ing on my progress. I enlisted as a first- 
class private and a month later was put on 
cadet status, and five months later made a 
commissioned officer, and a month later an 
officer in charge of part of the training of 
cadets and officers. Have been in that work 



84 GRANVILLE 

for over three months now, and was told 
that if it wasn't for the fact that I was going 
across I would be moved up to even a better 
job than I have at present. 

Recommended the enlisted man on the 
traps, who was the cause of my confinement, 
for a promotion and he'll get it too. Sure 
wish that I was "overseas," but I suppose 
that it is only half as bad as it would be if it 
was twice as bad as it is. 

Monday, Sept. 30. 

It looks as though I stood a good chance 
to be broke this month as my pay voucher 
check did not come over from the field with 
the rest. With a typewriter to pay for and 
a .45 to buy, I'm afraid I may have to send 
home for some. "Some" refers to that ne- 
cessity — $$$$$$$$. 

Held a football practice this evening, but 
there were not so very many out as some had 
extra fatigue and there was the formal open- 
ing of the "Y" this evening. It sure is a fine 
and much-needed building. A number of 
people from D. were at the program this 
evening, including Miss B., who invited me 
in to her house whenever I could get into D. 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 85 

Had a wonderful program which included 
the Ellington Band, and they sure were the 
best that I've heard for some time. They 
played 'Jazz" music that made you want to 
get up and yell instead of just applauding 
and there were a number who "obeyed that 
impulse." A speaker referred to us as ''the 
boys who may have to win the war in Texas" 
and I believe that he spoke the truth. 

Tues. Oct. I. 

The staff officers sure are out for blood in 
regard to the trap shoot next Sat., and the 
worst of it all is that there are no student 
officers who can shoot worth two whoops. 
Shot some myself this afternoon and got 24 
out of 25. Really ought to shoot oftener but 
I guess that I am too lazy to do it. My con- 
finement is up to-day and I really haven't 
been bothered by it. 

Have been assigned two assistants to help 
in the coaching of the football team, and 
they are All-American men. Mighty nice 
fellows to work with too. I made a kick 
about my being put over them but the 
Hdqts. looks at it from a military stand- 
point, so it stands. One used to be a Chi. 



86 GRANVILLE 

end and the other was guard on Annapolis 
until he was busted. Had a little scrimmage 
this evening to keep the interest up. It sure 
seems good to see a little of it again. Read 
to-day that M. A. played a lazy game. If 
they only knew with what interest the 
alumni all over the world watch the news 
of the happenings at the old school, they 
might not play that way. Met an old boy 
from M. A. on the football field to-day and 
gave him a good kick where he sits down 
when he came up to me and saluted. His 
name is Lowell. One of the older fellows, 
as he went to Minn, and then to Yale. We 
had a great chat over in my tent in the even- 
ing. 

Wed. Oct. 2. 

The Spanish flu seems to have hit with a 
vengeance, as they are overcrowded with 
cases at both Camp Logan and Ellington, 
although we haven't a case here at San 
Leon. All of Camp Logan and Ellington 
are confined indefinitely, and I suppose that 
we will be by to-morrow. Hiked away to 
town in a hurry this evening before the 
camp would be confined and then called up 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 87 

Miss B. and took another fellow over to 
her house with me and spent a very enjoy- 
able evening. Talked over old times with 
her, as she knew any number of the boys 
who were back here in Feb., and that seems 
some time back. There were no govern- 
ment trucks in town, and as we had to get 
out to the field an Italian stuck us two bucks 
and a half to take us some five miles in a 
Ford truck. Such is life ! 

Thurs. Oct. 3. 

Put in about an hour and a half with Lt. 
Colby, one of the boys whom I was with in 
formation back in Feb. We were making 
a shadow for the boys in the first week to 
shoot at. They were on the bank at the 
water's edge with their guns and we flew 
so that our shadow was on the water in front 
of them and they shot AT the shadow. We 
had to fly real low and I was thinking and 
wondering if Hun bullets would ever come 
that close to me. I'm beginning to believe 
that there is not much chance. The boys 
"over there" sure are giving Kaiser Bill 
hell. And the best of it all is that they are 
doing it and still are keeping over a million 



88 GRANVILLE 

of our boys in reserve some place. When 
that bunch hits — Good Nite, Bill! I sup- 
pose that they will wait until he starts a re- 
treat out of Belgium and then they will hit 
some place around Metz and go right up 
the river valleys. 

Got my typewirter to-day and it left me 
broke flat and twenty-eight days until pay 
day. We got confined to-day because of the 
flu, so it's not as bad as it might be. 

Fri. Oct. 4th. 

Took a real "Jazz" with Bill to-day. I 
wanted to go to Ellington to see about my 
check and some other stuff and got Bill to 
take me. We also had to get some flipper 
wires as two fellows shot off the control 
wires this morning and they had no extra 
ones here. Mighty funny how careless a 
fellow will get with his gun. I suppose that 
they ought to be commended upon their 
good head work as they only got one wire 
each and we have had birds here who have 
done better than that, as one fellow got both 
flipper wires with one shot. 

We started off by flying over to D. and 
circled the schoolhouse a number of times 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 89 

for the benefit of Miss B., who teaches there. 
We then went to A. and tried to wake some 
of the C. family, but I guess that they were 
not at home, as we couldn't get anyone to 
come to the window or to come outside the 
house, so we circled the schoolhouse and 
dove at some men who were unloading a 
train of cattle. One clown who was on the 
top of the train took off his hat and bowed 
to us very grandly, so I gave him a good bow 
in return, as I was standing up in the rear 
seat. We then went to E. 

I managed to get my check and while they 
were making the wires the right length I 
went down to see why any number of fel- 
lows, who had their names sent in to Wash, 
long after mine, had got their "overseas" 
and I had not. Found out that, somehow, 
my name had not been sent to Wash, on 
any list of available bombers. Think that 
there is a nigger in the woodpile some- 
where, but daren't say just what I do think. 
They promised to send it in whenever Wash, 
next asked for the available bombers, but 
I'll wait until I see the telegram before I 
believe it. Smell a rat somewhere. 

At E. we had a truck come out to gas us 



90 GRANVILLE 

up as soon as we landed, so when we returned 
to the shop some time later we thought, of 
course, that it was full of gas, but, as we 
were about to climb in, the truck came tear- 
ing across the field and they told us that they 
had started to gas us up and they found out 
that the truck tank was empty, so they went 
back for more. If we had come on the field 
a little sooner we would have gone up, 
thinking that the tank was full and would 
have run out of gas and had a forced land- 
ing "somewhere in Texas." Such is life in 
the air service. You're here to-day, to- 
morrow you're gone, and the next day you're 
forgotten, and the world goes on as before. 

After we left E. we went back over D. 
and then over La M. and then went down to 
Galveston. We made an experiment that I 
have been anxious to test for some time — 
running the ship from the gunner's seat. In 
the ships that they use for gunnery, bomb- 
ing, observation, etc., on the other side they 
have dual controls, one in each cock pit. 
In the ships here they have controls in the 
front seat only. Bill took his hands off the 
stick and his feet off the rudder, as though 
he were unconscious, and I reached over his 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 91 

shoulder and took the stick and glided the 
ship down for a ways and then ran it level 
for a while. The propeller torque had a 
tendency to make the ship turn a bit to one 
side, but a little aileron counteracted it. I 
flew the ship for some time from the rear 
seat and experienced no difficulty, excepting 
that it was a rather uncomfortable position 
— reaching over into the front seat for the 
controls. 

We had about seven thousand feet when 
we went over to Galveston Island, and it 
sure was a pretty scene. You could see Fort 
Crockett and the gun emplacements and 
the tents that the Marines are in and the 
whole town laid out like a map beneath you. 
You could see the docks and the boats mov- 
ing in and out, while some of them were 
waiting in the bay with puffing tug boats be- 
side them. We had a well-balanced and 
lined up ship, as it would fly for a minute 
or so with hands and feet off the controls. 
On our way back we flew over T. C, and 
then went out over Trinity Bay to dive in 
some clouds that were out there, but I 
noticed that she was throwing oil on one 
side, so we hit for home in a hurry. We 



92 GRANVILLE 

side slipped down and landed in the field, 
and found that the oil pipe was broken and 
the oil spurting out. It's a queer feeling to 
kill altitude in a hurry and even when you 
come down the fastest way possible it takes 
some time before you get to the ground; 
that is, of course, if you are several thousand 
feet up. When you are near the ground you 
come down too quick. 

Sat. Oct. 5. 

The Staff team coached by Lt. Colby beat 
the Students in the trap meet this afternoon 
but they sure had to work for their money, 
as they won by only five, and that is not such 
a lot out of a thousand birds. The Students 
did better than I expected them to do at that. 

The mosquitoes sure are getting to be 
something awful. They got plenty of 
chance to breed because of the heavy rains 
some time ago, and they sure are here in 
swarms. A mosquito bar helps wonderfully, 
but you have to take care that no part of 
your body touches the bar or else they cover 
that part so thick with welts that it is out of 
shape. 

Most of the boys went fishing at the R. R. 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 93 

bridge near here, but I went over to the "Y" 
and watched the boxing. There was a new 
Lt. there whom I used to know back at E. 
and he suggested that we put the gloves on. 
I agreed, and then I began to wonder if he 
was some expert with the gloves. He was 
heavier and taller than I, but we sure had 
a fine scrap. We went right after it and 
didn't clinch or stall a bit. By the time the 
three rounds were up we both were pretty 
well all in. Then I went right out and had 
a good shower and then went to bed. I left 
the light on until I had killed all the mo- 
squitoes inside the mosquito bar and then 
tucked it well under the mattress and then 
had one of the fellows turn the light out. 
A couple of them got in somehow during 
the night, but what difference does two on 
the inside make when there are two million 
on the outside trying to get in. Two get full 
in a little while, and then they let you sleep 
in comfort. 

Mon. Oct. 7. 

Had a lot of sport with H. this morning 
as we were testing out a new moving-picture 
camera gun, and H. and I were in the scout 



94 GRANVILLE 

ship that was doing the stunting while the 
other ship was taking the pictures. We 
were stunting all the time and were doing 
all sorts of knowr. i 1 unknown stunts. We 
would loop within twenty feet of the other 
ship and start a barrel roll when only about 
fifty away. When we weren't doing a loop, 
roll or wing over wing, we were zooming 
or else doing an Immelman or good side 
slip. I thought of the first day that I was 
ever in a machine and wondered just how I 
would have felt if I had gone through a 
roll then. H. is a^ comparatively new man 
here, but he stunts about as close as anyone. 
When all the pictures had been taken I 
killed the altitude with a falling leaf, much 
to H.'s surprise, as I guess he didn't think 
that it was in me. 

Two classes got their "overseas" to-day, 
but my name was not on the list. I hardly 
expected it to be after what I found out up 
at E. last Friday. 

Tues. Oct. 8. 

Had a good rain last night and as a result 
there was no flying to-day. I saw that the 
students were kept busy too with drill and 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 95 

traps. They shot traps until they could 
barely hold guns up to their shoulders, and 
then would get drill for a while. While 
the shooting was going on, the fellow in the 
trap house suddenly came tearing out about 
a hundred miles per hour and began to wave 
his hat so that no one would shoot at him. 
After the fellows had unloaded their guns I 
asked him if he had gone crazy. He then 
explained that a centipede had chased him 
out of the trap house. I told him that I 
would feel safer with the centipede than to 
get in front of five students each of whom 
had a loaded shotgun in his hands. 

A number of the staff are going to town 
regularly in spite of the confinement. The 
married men are exempt from the confine- 
ment, and so every married man gets a pass 
to see his wife every time he wishes to go to 
town. Some of their wives are in Oregon, 
Michigan, etc., but they get the passes any- 
way. That's one argument in favor of get- 
ting married. 

Wed. Oct. 9. 

Got a pass myself to-day to go to town on 
"official business" (mailed a government 



96 GRANVILLE 

letter). Deposited part of my month's pay 
check, so that I'll be sure and have some 
money if I get my "overseas." Went in to 
town in the motorcycle and made a date for 
the evening. Took a walk in the evening 
until I had to hunt cover to keep away 
from the mosquitoes. There is no place to 
walk to except the graveyard anyway, and 
that was too full of life for a man used to 
San Leon society. Had the Gov't's jitney 
bring me back. 

The O. D. was going to play a joke on me, 
so he instructed the guard not to let me leave 
the camp when he heard that I was going in 
to town to see a girl. I tried to get out one 
gate and they told me what he had just told 
them, and that he was on his way to the 
other gate to give the same orders, so I had 
the driver open her up and we got out the 
other gate before he got over there to tell 
them to keep me in. 

Thurs. Oct. lo. 

Put in a little practice myself on traps to- 
day and I sure needed it. "Pinky" felt 
pretty bad about his turning over on his 
back to-day but he didn't need to, as it could- 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 97 

n't possibly have been avoided. He had a 
forced landing, and the only field that he 
could make was with the wind and newly 
plowed and, of course, he lit on his back, as 
the wind got under his tail and turned him 
over. 

There are times, such as the present, in 
this army life when a man's thought uncon- 
sciously turns toward the spiritual ques- 
tions. At present one question is ever pres- 
ent in the minds of practically every man on 
this post, but all to no avail, as none have 
sufficient education or vision to give an ex- 
planation or answer that gives us the least 
satisfaction. No help can possibly be re- 
ceived from the outside, as no one excepting 
members in this immediate vicinity can 
fully appreciate the conditions and circum- 
stances. My training at home taught me 
that when up against some problem that was 
too deep for me to understand clearly, 
prayer would help me to the proper inter- 
pretation, and the Lord knows that IVe 
prayed, but all to no avail. And still we all 
are in the dark on the subject, ^'Why did the 
Lord ever create a mosquito?" They come 
in droves, flocks, herds, schools, bunches, or 



98 GRANVILLE 

swarms. But how they come is not so im- 
portant as the fact that they DO COME 
and come in NUMBERS. They sting, 
bite, and buzz. About the time that there 
is no more room on your body for them to 
bite and you are about to drop off to sleep a 
swarm of the "dairty barstards" come along 
and keep you awake with their buzzing. 
They get through your mosquito bar and 
bite through two blankets and are the cause 
of a man breaking one of the command- 
ments. They carry more discomfort and 
annoyance when a formation invades a 
camp than would be caused by an invasion 
of a formation of Hun airships, and per 
ounce, they are more destructive to a sol- 
dier's morale than any high explosive ever 
invented. Here I sit with blankets wrapped 
around my legs; as an ordinary uniform 
does not seem to hinder an ambitious 
mosquito in the least, a rain coat on to keep 
them off my back and a towel covering my 
head and neck. A smudge of burning oily 
waste causes me more inconvenience than it 
causes the mosquitoes, but on the whole, 
"It's only half as bad as it would be if 'twas 
twice as bad as it is." 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 99 

Fri. Oct. II. 

Heard from a somewhat reliable source 
that the boys going to Garden City are not 
going across but are entering concentration 
camps for the winter. It would be my luck 
to give up my chance for promotion here 
and then be sent to a concentration camp 
until spring with no chance to fly or get any 
flying or gunnery practice. O, well, I 
should worry. 



Sat. Oct. 12. 

Moved my tent to-day, as they are plan- 
ning on building barracks for us in the near 
future and rearrange the whole camp. Had 
a peach of a trap shoot to-day. The Stu- 
dents won the meet although it came very 
near to breaking up in a fight. I had given 
the Students practice during the week on 
extreme angles, and they sure could hit them 
on the nose. When the Staff boys saw the 
angles we were warming up on they made 
us change the setting of the trap to the 
regular-size angles. Won by 11 points at 
that. Score, 410 to 421 out of a possible 
500. The Staff boys were rather burned 



loo GRANVILLE 

up, as they had been blowing all week about 
what they were to do to the Student OfBcers. 
A bunch of us were planning on a fishing 
and hunting trip all day Sunday, but it had 
to be called off, as the man who was going 
to rent us the boat said that the fish wouldn't 
bite because of the rain last night. Didn't 
find out that we were not going until it was 
too late to get a pass to go to town on "offi- 
cial business." I had a bout on at the "Y" 
anyway, as they had picked a bird to mal- 
treat me. After the movies we had our little 
tilt, and I can frankly say that I was not the 
one who got the worst end of the deal. In 
the first round it was about even, but I made 
up for it later. In the last round I had his 
nose running and his lip cut and one eye 
almost closed. I really didn't mean to hit 
him as hard as I did, but it was a case of hit 
or get hit. Took a good bath and then hit 
the hay. 

Oct. 13. Sunday. 

Lowell and I spent most of the day trying 
to find something around the camp. Most 
of the fellows went fishing, although some 
of them went down swimming. Then they 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS loi 

hung around the "Y" and read and played 
the Victrola, or else wrote some letters. 

Some of the boys in the E. office got 
recommended for their firsts to-day, over 
the head of a number of flyers who really 
ought to have been promoted, as they have 
been flying for some time and were prom- 
ised firsts in the first place. Also heard of a 
number of M.S.E.'s and first-class Sgts. at E. 
were recommended and received their com- 
missions. Good enough for them, but they 
are making a mistake in not keeping their 
word with a lot of men who have cost the 
Government some thirty or forty thousand 
dollars, for when the war is won and they 
want the boys to stay, they are going to lose 
the money invested in them, for the fellows 
will not stay in as they would if the promises 
made to them had been kept. Poor econ- 
omy. 

Sometimes when everything breaks 
against you and continues to do so, it gets 
past the stage of being annoying and be- 
comes humorous. That's about the way 
that I feel now toward it all, as I certainly 
have had my share. Perhaps it's because I 
expect too much. Really, I've done well — 



I02 GRANVILLE 

in fact, mighty well, but I expect to do too 
well. The best way in the army to remain 
always satisfied, contented and never be dis- 
appointed, is not to expect anything, but just 
go along from one day to the next and plan 
on nothing. 

The Kaiser is putting out a nice little trap 
with his so-called "peace" move, but I don't 
think anyone will fall for it. This evening 
I got tired of staying around camp, so I 
called up Miss B. and asked her to ask me 
in to see her, which she very kindly did. I 
got a pass and one of the post cars and driver 
and went in. Spent a very pleasant evening 
and met Lt. W. and his wife. They were 
just married, and he made me promise not 
to tell the boys about the way his wife was 
bringing him up. It was almost too good to 
keep, but he'll have to pay for it. When I 
came back to camp a good dog "came back 
with me." 

Mon. Oct. 14. 

No flying to-day, as they had a bad rain at 
E. last night and didn't want to take a 
chance on getting the ships off the ground. 
Gave the boys plenty of trap-shooting, as we 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 103 

had a shoot between the Student OiEcers 
and the Cadets. S. O. won, 391 to 390, 
which was not a bad score, considering the 
fact that there was a real bad cross wind. 

In the afternoon I got one of the gunnery 
ships that was in the completed steel hang- 
ars (have two up already) , and got B. to give 
me a real ride up to E. to see about my dear 
"overseas." Found out that my name was 
sent in on a list of "available men for over- 
seas" on the 8th of Oct., but they had failed 
to remember to put it on any list since then! 
They sure win the cake! If their heads 
were as big as their brains, they could use 
peanut shells for panama hats. IVe a mind 
to quit trying to get it put on, as I'll not get 
a recommendation for promotion unless I 
stay here, and the last bunch of fellows that 
have been sent to Garden City write and say 
that they will be there for the winter. If I 
really thought that I would have to wait 
until spring until I got my orders to cross 
after I got to G. C, I believe that I would 
stay here. There is a fairly good bunch of 
fellows here and I could get my recom- 
mendation (if I haven't got myself too 
much "in bad" already by fighting for my 



I04 GRANVILLE 

"overseas") and have a better job than the 
one I have now, as the "Boss" has said that 
the day I agree to stay he will make me 
O.LC.G.I. O well, I'll wait and see what 
turns up. 

On the return trip Lt. B. wanted to try a 
few stunts, so I sat down on the folding seat 
in the gunner's cock pit and grabbed a good 
hold of a wooden longeron and told him to 
go ahead, as I could keep from falling off. 
There was a belt in the rear cock pit, but it 
could only be fastened when the gunner was 
standing up to shoot. He tried a barrel roll 
and almost did two of them before he 
stopped it. I could keep track of just what 
position the ship was in very easily, for I 
was riding backward and was looking back 
over the tail and so could see as well as feel 
when the ship was on her back, and I could 
see the ground all the time or at least most 
of the time. Would like to take a picture 
when the ship was up-side-down and show 
the tail group and the ground so that you 
could tell that the ship was on her back. 
After the first roll I told him that I could 
do better than that, and then he did a num- 
ber of them and some otherstuff as stalls, and 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 105 

finally we tried a loop. Theloop is the easiest 
of them all to do, but is the easiest of them 
all to make one fall out of the ship too. I 
took a good hold with my hands that would 
have held me in if we had stayed on our 
back all afternoon. And we went through 
it "jake," although my feet were off the floor 
when we were on our back. We then did 
a few spirals and slips for Miss B.'s benefit 
(if she were at home) and came on home. 
Had a baseball game this evening between 
Students and Staff, and the Students won 4 
to3. 

Tues. Oct. 15. 

The good old cold weather is back again 
and it sure is great. There was a bad mist 
to-day and it was raining part of the time so 
they had to call off flying. There is a 
mighty strong wind blowing and the Gal- 
veston weather office phoned and gave 
warning of a four-foot tide for to-night. 
Hope it doesn^t get any higher than that, for 
if it does, I might find myself floating out in 
the middle of the Gulf. 

Had quite a talk about staying here to-day 
and finally told them that, after putting up 



io6 GRANVILLE 

my side of the argument, I was willing to 
let the Capt. decide what he should do with 
me and I would abide by his decision; 
which was very obliging of me, in view of 
the fact that he can do, and has done, just 
about as he pleases with me. If I stay I'll 
get a chance to jazz in a ship every day, as 
we are going to get some jazz ships as soon 
as the next hangar is completed. Then, 
again, I will most likely get a promotion 
sometime and that would please the folks at 
home, as they figure that I ought to do as 
well as the best of the college boys, and I 
can do it. 

Wed. Oct. 1 6. 

No flying to-day either, as the rain is still 
with us. It doesn't rain very bad but there 
is a thick mist or fog that goes up over six 
thousand feet and prevents you seeing the 
ground when you get up over a hundred feet 
and in some places, thirty feet. Gives the 
ships a chance to be looked over and they 
surely need it. The ship that I had over to 
E. on Mon. with Lt. B. (the one we were 
stunting in) was gone over and they found 
that the walking board was worn so that it 




Vernon Castles Fats^l Fall 




■^^■; J^?*^P ,' 






Nose In 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 107 

was liable to break with the least jerk. 
They had to send another ship over to E. for 
the extra parts to repair it. 

Some of the fellows were kidding us 
about it, and we had quite a discussion as 
to what would have happened had it broken 
in the air. I think that I could have got 
hold of the flipper wires and put the thing 
in an easy glide. Then B. could have yelled 
at me and told me when to pull her nose up, 
as I would have to be down in the inside and 
would have been unable to see the ground. 
We would have crashed all right, but 
wouldn't be smashed up ourselves. Of 
course if it had broken down near the 
ground when we didn't have altitude 
enough to regain control of the ship, it 
would have made a nasty smash. 

Heard to-day that Capt. J. was killed at 
Selfridge. He sure was a peach of a flier 
and was an old timer at that, as some five 
years ago, he was considered the most per- 
fect flier in America. Don't know the de- 
tails of the accident. It gets the best of 
them. Not long ago our two oldest fliers 
(counting hours in the air) were killed in 
an accident and no one could explain why. 



io8 GRANVILLE 

They were a colonel and major and had sev- 
eral thousand hours in the air, in fact more 
hours than anyone else in the U. S. 

Had agreed to go on in a boxing match 
this eve. at the "Y" but I don't imagine that 
the bout will be pulled off in this rain. 
There is a storm somewhere in the Gulf and 
the weather bureau at G. called up and gave 
us warning. Last night it blew so hard that 
I expected the wind to pick the tent up any 
minute, and they say that if the wind hits 
this place it will be about ten times as bad 
as last night. That sure will be some blow! 
They don't know whether or not it will hit 
this place, though, as it may hit anywhere 
along the coast. Last time we got a warning 
almost all the boys went to town, but we are 
in confinement now. It wiped Gerstner 
Field off the map but didn't hit us. I'm 
getting used to the storm scares, but it has 
the new fellows worried. 

The time of the '15 Galveston storm there 
was about ten feet of water over the land 
that this field is now on and it wiped a 
number of fairly large-sized towns around 
here off the map. A railroad freight-car 
ferry boat was washed in some three miles 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 109 

in shore. When the water went down it was 
left high and dry in a farmer's back yard. 
A real estate company wanted to sell some 
of the surrounding property but, strangely, 
couldn't make a sale because of the boat's 
presence. The Santa Fe had to burn its 
boat, as it wouldn't pay them to haul it three 
miles back to the water. 

Bill gave me the dickens for letting B. 
stunt the ship on the return from E. when it 
was a gunnery ship and had no belt. He pre- 
dicted that B. would kill himself some day 
on this field. Bill usually knows what he is 
talking about at that. My "dog" is still 
with me and sure is some "dog." Every day 
I get a little more resigned to my fate here. 
Makes me sick at heart though when I think 
of Bill and me not able to take part. Some- 
times I have half a mind not to return home 
after this war if I haven't been able to get 
across. O well, I won't cross a bridge until 
I come to it. 

One of the fellows just stuck his head in 
the tent and said, "What if we wake up in 
the morning and find the ocean paying us a 
visit?" and I told him that wouldn't be half 
as bad as to wake up and find that we were 



no GRANVILLE 

paying the ocean a visit. IVe heard so 
much about these storms that I would like to 
see one and be in Galveston at the time and 
watch the water hit that sea wall. 

Thurs. Oct. 17. 

This sure is a week of rest for the ships, as 
the fog is raising Cain. When there is no 
fog the clouds hang around at a few hun- 
dred feet and that holds us up. 

My bout came off this evening, and it sure 
was a warm one. Cinched it in the third 
with a good right to his heart that slowed 
him up noticeably during the rest of the 
fight. Learned more in my fight with him 
than in any of the others, as he put up the 
best argument of any of them. One of the 
boys in one of the preliminaries broke his 
hand. After the fight I took a good bath 
and then hit the hay. 

Heard from some of the boys who left 
here with the fellows who went to G. C., 
and they seem to think that they will stay at 
G. C. for the winter. Rather than that I'd 
put in the winter here. Still hope for some 
orders but don't think that IVe got a chance 
in a hundred to get them, as I have a hunch 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 1 1 1 

they will be stopped if I do get them. 
"You're in the army now." 

Fri. Oct. 1 8. 

Just started to take all the students out to 
drill when an orderly drove up and told me 
that flying would be continued in all stages. 
The boys suspected the truth and were 
tickled to get out of drill, so I thought I'd 
fool them for a bit and turned to them and 
said with a sober face, "Flying is called off 
in all stages, so we will put in all morning 
in drill," and you ought to have seen the 
stung expression on their faces. I drilled 
them a bit more and then told them the truth 
and told them to "Fall out," and you ought 
to have heard the yell — like a bunch of kids. 

The Capt. called me in this afternoon 
and inferred that he would rather I would- 
n't box in public. I've never boxed since 
commissioned unless it was an officer, but he 
said that he thought it would be better if I 
didn't, so "nuff said." Among other things 
he said that he wanted to talk over and 
settle this "overseas" business of mine. He 
said that the fact that I possibly would leave 
for overseas had kept me from getting some- 



112 GRANVILLE 

thing better here. He then spread a good 
line on how good my work had been done, 
my personality, my duty as a soldier, my 
chance for something better if I stayed, 
how badly I was needed, etc. Ended up by 
asking me to stay and inferred that I would 
have to stay anyway, but he would rather it 
were of my own accord. He promised that 
he would let me go "later" and I promised 
to stay and help him out. (Very kind of 
me indeed !) Right here I might say that al- 
though a lot of half promises were made I 
made up my mind, not because of any 
promises, but because there are no two ways 
around it — it's my duty to stay. 

Before I had left the office he had made 
me O.I.C.G.I. (Officer In Charge of 
Ground Instruction). The Capt. is the 
O.I.C. Gunnery and under him comes 
the O.I.C. Flying and O.I.C. Ground 
Instruction, so that leaves only one man 
over me, the O.I.C. Gunnery. Under 
me I have the O.I.C. Theoretical Training, 
O.I.C. Firing, O.I.C. Range, O.I.C. Traps, 
Ground Gunnery Instructors and all their 
assistants and then the enlisted men under 
them. Not only all that new work, but he 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 113 

outlined a new curriculum for the whole 
school and told me to work up the details 
and the stencils for the various courses, for 
both the instructors and the students. 
WOW! A job for ten men, but Til have to 
fool him and do it up brown. After I got 
out of the office I began to think over the 
Job that I had before me, and then I began 
to worry as to whether I could do it. I 
hiked out to the field to find Bill and tell 
him of my new job, (but he was off with a 
forced landing somewhere, so I had to tell it 
to the typewriter. I can do it better than 
anyone else at this place anyway, and that is 
some consolation. Not that I know as much 
as some who have a dozen degrees in their 
suitcases, but I know all stages of this work 
and have some common sense and some orig- 
inality and can handle the men under me. 
When you come right down to it good horse 
sense counts for a hell of a lot. 

Sat. Oct. 19. 

Stayed up until i A. M. this morning 
working up some new stencils for the 
Ground Practices. Confinement is still on, 
but we have had only five cases of flu here 



114 GRANVILLE 

and they were men who had just arrived 
from Ellington. It's about over, anyway. 
Some of the fellows went to Eagle Lake to 
hunt over the week end, part of them in 
cars and some in ships. Some confinement! 
Stayed here all day and evening. 

Pulled a surprise on the Staff Officers by 
beating them 423 to 422. Sure was some 
trap meet. The boys were ten birds behind 
when they came up for the last order but 
they came through with a punch, and it got 
on the other fellows' nerve and the boys 
came out on top by the width of a gnat's eye- 
brow. 

A telegram was sent in killing any chance 
that I might have had of getting across. 

Sun. Oct. 20. 

Not so very far from pay day. Tried to 
help out the Fourth Liberty Loan a bit by 
my subscription. Allotted part (small 
part) of my pay for the next ten months to 
the Treas. of the U. S. for their purchase. 
That's the least that I can do. 

Was up in the ofBce until one again last 
night and spent most of the Sabbath work- 
ing in the office. I sure am very poor in 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 115 

my grammar, but I can't be bothered with 
that when writing. 

Mon. Oct. 21. 

One o'clock is getting to be my time of 
retiring. I can stand it O.K. though, as it's 
the first real work that I've done for some 
time. 

Had a real "jazz" trip to-day with Jack. 
He was driving the scout ship that attacks 
the camera gun ships and I took a trip with 
him. He didn't care to take me along, as it 
makes a lot of fellows sick to ride in a ship 
and have some one else stunt it continuously, 
the way that the scout does on the work here. 
I told him where to go to and climbed in, 
and tojd him that if I got really under the 
weather I would motion him and he should 
duck his head and keep dry. He just had 
had a pilot up with him who forgot all 
about Hooverizing and wasted a perfectly 
good meal. The dog wanted to follow me 
when I got in, but I'll have to take her up 
some time when there are not going to be 
any acrobatics. 

We put in our time stunting around the 
ship and letting the man with the camera 



ii6 GRANVILLE 

gun take shots at us. We would dive at him 
and go in under the ship and come up in 
front and turn a loop right around him, or 
else start a roll when on his right and roll 
over him and come out on his left. The 
rest of the stuff was a few stalls and Immel- 
mans, or else a zoom up from in under the 
other ship so that our wing would come up 
between the wing and tail of the other ship. 
That boy sure can fly! He's had about 800 
hours of that stuff at this field. And to think 
that a little while ago whole squadrons of 
ships would cross the lines and none of the 
pilots had over twenty hours in the air! 

Tues. Oct. 22. 

Sure had some time to-day showing a 
First Lieutenant from my old ground 
school, S.M.A. Austin, the practices that 
we have here. He was sent down here to 
get the dope, and we sure gave it to him and 
gave it to him hot. He tried to show where 
his theory was right and ours wrong in some 
cases but we sure brought him around in a 
hurry. He wouldn't believe it when he was 
told that I left his school just last Feb. He 
was tickled to death with some of our prac- 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 1 17 

tices and wanted to get some or all the dope 
and put it in at Austin. Some compliments 
I'll say. Was up until i again last night. 
Regular night owl. 

Wed. Oct. 23. 

The bird from Austin evidently gave 
Ellington a tip, as they sent two Lts., who 
instruct in ring sights, etc., down here to 
take our whole course and then go through 
the work with us before returning to Elling- 
ton to teach it. They also sent the Officer In 
Charge of Range Work at E. down here to 
take our course. 

Thurs. Oct. 24. 

Up until one again last night. The con- 
finement was lifted the other day but I 
haven't been off the post as yet. Will soon 
have the work all done now, though, and 
then there will be nothing to do to speak of. 

Some of the fellows sure pulled a dirty 
trick on me the other night. Was just an 
accident that I heard what they had done. 
There was some sort of party at T.C. and 
"my" girl was there as well as a number of 
other people whom I know. They were 
talking about K.C.'s wife coming down here 



ii8 GRANVILLE 

from Mich., and one of the boys casually 
remarked, "Did you see Granny's wife to- 
day? She just came down from Minnesota 
and they are going to stay at the Oleander 
Club." One of the fellows said that my 
girl's eyes popped out of her head but she 
didn't say anything, and then one of the 
birds had to do it up brown by saying, "He 
sure has got the huskiest twins that I have 
seen in a long time." About an hour later 
my girl asked one of the fellows if my wife 
really were down here and he said she was 
and went on raving about the twins. Am 
waiting to see if I hear from the girl. The 
fellows say that the town is mounting ma- 
chine guns to prepare my reception when I 
go over there next. 

A number of the cadets are getting their 
commissions, so it leaves us with only four 
or five cadets and a hundred or more student 
officers. It's about time that some of the 
commissions were coming through. One 
kid who got his was called Hard Luck Ver- 
million. He was the 156th cadet in the 
U. S. and has been a cadet for eighteen 
months. He put in 11 months with the 
Royal Flying Corps when this government 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 1 19 

had not started ground schools or flying 
fields. He went through their ground 
school and flying school and when the class 
was turned back to this Govt, they lost his 
records. The rest of his class got first lieu- 
tenancies out of it, but he was then sent to 
an American ground school after the usual 
delay. He completed that and also the 
course at Ellington and was recommended 
for a "commish" and, while waiting, was 
taking this course in gunnery so that he 
could get sent overseas as soon as possible. 
He was just finishing here when he got a 
long letter from Wash, saying that they had 
no record of him at all and sent him enlist- 
ment papers to fill out and told him that he 
would have to go through ground and fly- 
ing school again, as they had absolutely no 
record of him at all. He came in to my 
office with the letter and saluted and handed 
over the papers and said: "Sir, what the 
hell do you think of that? I don't mind 
enlisting over again and doing the work 
over, if necessary, but how in hell can I get 
the three letters of recommendation asked 
for when they say they want them from 
men who knew me during the past year in 



I20 GRANVILLE 

civil life?" We took the matter up with 
Washington, through Ellington, and fortu- 
nately were able to fix it up so that he en- 
listed and then got his commission. 

Had three so-called "efficiency experts" 
down from Ellington to give us the "once 
over." Hope that they profit by what they 
found out, as there sure is room for im- 
provement in their work. They ought to 
form a home missionary society. 

Fri. Oct. 25. 

Up until one again last night. I'm trying 
hard to get everything all worked up so that, 
in case my "overseas" should come through, 
they won't be able to say that it is impossible 
for me to leave. Have just about finished 
commissioning the cadets. They are going 
to give a dance at the Oleander Club to cele- 
brate the event and I am going with Bill 
and some of his bunch from Alvin. Bill has 
a schoolmarm picked for me. 

Sat. Oct. 26. 

The Staff trimmed the Students in the 
trap meet to-day. I have been too busy in the 
office to give them any special practice and 
it showed up in the meet. They had never 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 121 

been in competition before, for they are all 
new men, as our old team has gone back to 
Ellington. 

The O. Club burned down this afternoon 
so the dinner dance was called off. Rouse, 
Bill, and myself all piled into R's car and 
drove to Alvin. Had the usual trouble with 
the car, which was made especially interest- 
ing because of the rain. Bill and I stood in 
the rain, and argued about who should get 
in the car first and would have been there 
yet if R. hadn't started to drive on and, 
rather than be left, we piled in. Was up 
until one again last night. 

Heard some good news to-day. A tele- 
gram from Washington saying that my 
name- was on the "overseas" list and that 
they should make preparations to release me 
as an instructor. Heard the CO. raising 
hell with E. about it, but they evidently said 
that there was no chance to stop them. If 
they do come, it will mean that I will go 
without promotion, while if I stayed for 
another month or so Fm about sure to get it. 
But what's a First to a chance to get in ac- 
tion overseas? 

Had supper with the C.'s at Alvin and 



122 GRANVILLE 

surely had a good time. Stayed at the hotel 
over night. A popular and appropriate 
sign that the hotel keepers hang in their 
rooms in this country reads as follows: 
"Cheer up, it might be worse." The first 
part is all right, but they couldn't be worse. 
Bill likes to tell about the last time he and 
I stopped at that hotel. He says that he 
woke up in the night and heard some one 
pounding on the floor as if he were trying 
to wreck the hotel. He located the noise as 
coming from my room and then he found 
out that I had no sledge to hit with but was 
using a No. 12 shoe of mine and trying to 
kill cockroaches with it, but it wasn't heavy 
enough. He said the last he saw of me I 
was running down the hall in my birthday 
clothes (?) with a shoe in each hand and 
repeating to Bill, "They're after me, Bill, 
they're after mel" 

Sun. Oct 27. 

Had a hard time getting up early this 
morning. First I woke up and with my eyes 
only half open and myself half asleep, 
started to roll out of my bed. I thought I 
was in the cot at home, as this is the first 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 123 

night I have spent away from camp for 
some time, so I hit my knees a helluva crack 
on the wall. I looked at it and thought, at 
first, it must be a heavy fog and I was unable 
to see any farther than my mosquito bar 
(still thinking that I was at camp), but 
couldn't account for the fact that my knees 
got a good rap. I then noticed the white 
walls and wondered if it could be a hospital 
and that I had twisted my knees in some 
smash. I felt myself over and was pleased 
to note that apparently I was in good health. 
I then got a good look out of the window 
and finally realized where I was. Felt 
rather disgusted with myself , so decided that 
I would steal forty winks. Woke up again 
when Bill and R. came in to get me out of 
bed. They rolled me out on the floor and 
put the mattress over me and then when 
they saw that I was willing to sleep even in 
that position, they went out and left me and 
left the door wide open. They hadn't slept 
because of the cold and were rather jealous 
of me because I had slept sound and had 
my window wide open at that. I had to get 
up and shut the door and then decided to get 
dressed. 



124 GRANVILLE 

Mon. Oct. 28. 

Back on the job again. The Capt. wants 
me to draw up a personnel chart for this 
field and the prospective field at Hitch- 
cock. Will put about twelve commissioned 
men under me and about a hundred enlisted 
instructors. Some job. Wonder about my 
"overseas." He is having me go right on 
with the work as if I were to stay here for- 
ever. 

Turned a good idea over to the Experi- 
mental Dept. to make. Will save us about a 
thousand dollars and will be more efficient. 
Just luck that I happened to hit on the idea 
too, although I have been thinking on it 
for some weeks. 

Am starting to work up some pieces of a 
prop for the folks. The lights were not 
working in the Hdqts. so I worked in the 
Armory until my usual retiring hour. Am 
going to get everything all way ahead of 
schedule and keep it there. 

Tues. Oct. 29. 

Sent all the instructors out on the field to 
get some flying in this morning but they 
were disappointed for it began to rain about 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 125 

tne time flying was to begin, and, as a result, 
they'll have to wait a while. The field is a 
sea of mud. A person quits trying to dodge 
the mud but just wades through it any old 
way. 

They sure have got me guessing as to 
whether I am going overseas or not. I 
know for a fact that the telegram came into 
this office, but they are not letting on in any 
manner whether I am going to get across 
or have to stay. Such is life in the army. If 
they do come, I won't let the folks know 
until I am across or else until I am stranded 
on Long Island for the duration of the war. 

Wed. Oct. 30. 

Got a letter from one of the boys across 
to-day and one from one of the boys at G.C. 
who was just embarking. After I read them 
over I felt sore enough to go in and tell the 
CO. where to head in at. It sure is discour- 
aging to hear from the boys whom you 
worked with and have them tell of their 
experiences and their work over there and 
know that you were jipped out of going 
across. I am thankful that, as yet, I have 
not lost my sense of honor regarding the 



126 GRANVILLE 

word of a gentleman. Wonder just what 
happened to the orders that came in Sat.? 
O well, what's the use of worrying? If they 
want to give them to me they will, and if 
they don't they won't. There are a lot of 
fellows who are worse off than I am at that. 
But I've learned lots of things: Look out 
for No. I first, last, and all the time. 2: 
Trust no one with anything — money, ideas, 
or your girl. 3 : Toot your own horn, as no 
one will toot it for you. 4: Never expect 
anything and then you'll never be disap- 
pointed. 5 : When a man gives you his 
word that he will do something, discount his 
promises about 99%. 6: See that you get 
credit for what you deserve credit for, and 
that the other fellow doesn't steal it. 7: 
When you and the CO. don't agree and as 
a result you get jipped good and proper, 
SMILE, as that's all you can do. "O well," 
as Granny, the famous bomber of the battle 
of San Leon once said, "It's only half as bad 
as it would be if it was twice as bad as it is T 
And "What did you do in the great war, 
father?" "Well, my son, your father was 
never any nearer a bullet than the North is 
to the South !" Brave man, that ! 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 127 

If we all had our own way, what a hell of 
a world this would be ! I still have the dog 
at that. 

Thurs. Oct. 31. 

Just finished putting up a flag pole and 
had a formal flag raising ceremony and re- 
treat afterward. It sure makes a difference 
in a fellow. You look at things in a broader 
way and decide not to let the little matters 
trouble you but just go ahead and do your 
duty in the best possible way and let those 
who work for their own selfish interests do 
as they please but not have any influence 
over your actions. You realize that duty 
comes first and feel proud of being in the 
service where you can have the opportunity 
to sacrifice everything if need be, to keep 
the flag and what it stands for, respected by 
everyone everywhere. 

Sat. Nov. 2nd. 

After putting in most of the day on a 
small model made from parts of some 
wrecks I started to get ready for a trip to 
Alvin with R. this evening. We went to D. 
The hotel was full of boys from San Leon 
last night. This morning I would hear first 



128 GRANVILLE 

one and then another voice in the hall that I 
recognized. They didn't know for sure just 
what room I was in but soon found out and 
then came and rolled me out of bed. The 
girls called for us in their car about 10:30 
and we went out to Smith's for dinner, and 
O Boy! it sure was some dinner! I bet that 
I, alone and unassisted, made away with at 
least two whole chickens. Was a regular 
home dinner and it sure was fine. Can see 
how some that mother makes at home are 
appreciated by the boys there. Get plenty 
and good stuff in the camps but a home 
dinner is different. We get the same old 
stuff in the same old way day after day, and 
sometimes it gets monotonous. Afterward 
we had a good lot of singing and then we all 
did the dishes. 

Went in the car to San Leon and gave the 
girls supper at the camp and they were 
pleased with it. Showed them the model 
that I was working on and, of course, they 
think they ought to have one. 

Forgot to mention some fun I had when 
on as O.D. There is a rule that mosquito 
bars must be used and the O.D. has to make 
an inspection during the night to see that it 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 129 

is done. I made two rounds and woke up 
R. both times and asked him why one corner 
of his bar was not dropped properly. He 
didn't like to be disturbed. 

Mon. Nov. 4. 

Received some ballots from home to-day, 
but my vote had been mailed before the 
ballots arrived. Might have made a slight 
change in my ballot but not much. If I 
didn't know just whom to vote for, I didn't 
vote. Regarding the pink ballot, the advice 
from the family was appreciated but was 
unnecessary. May be far from being as 
good as I might be, but that's one thing that 
I have no use for, and think that the sooner 
the State is voted dry the better. 

Tues Nov. 5. 

Had a Jazz trip with J.K. in the scout 
ship that attacks the camera gun formations. 
We put in 65 minutes and were doing some 
stunt all the time. Some day there is going 
to be an awful smash in that stage as they 
fly a close formation and the scout does its 
stunts within a few feet of the other ships. 
Jack would do a roll, starting it on the ship's 
right and coming out of it on the left of the 



I30 GRANVILLE 

ship, or, in other words, fly along side of 
them and then roll over them. He would 
loop around them and spin down past them 
and then would come up in front and do an 
Immelman right over them while the for- 
mation went along under him and got out of 
his way. Some day his engine will quit and 
he will be in rather an embarrassing posi- 
tion. As long as nothing happens every- 
thing is Hunky Dory, but some day about 
six men will "go West" in one smash. 
That's the only way it will ever be stopped. 
They have come together a few times al- 
ready in that stage but have had the Lord in 
the front seat with them. 

Bill has been Acting Stage Commander 
for some time and now he is slated to take 
charge of the stage. We have just been 
working on some new stencils and it's rather 
late (or early I should say), so I think 
that I'll hit the hay. Gave Bill one of my 
photos with Observer's wing on. If I keep 
on I will be able to wear most any insignia. 

Wed. Nov. 6. 

Well, the best of them get it and Bill got 
his to-day. He was flying silhouettes and 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 131 

was coming across the bay when the motor 
began to miss and cut out. He started at 
500 feet and only had about 200 when he 
went to turn and the motor cut out entirely 
and he fell into a spin. B. was flying just a 
little ways from him and saw Bill spin 
around four times before he hit. He had 
gotten over the shore before he turned so he 
lit on land. B. landed beside him and tried 
to get Bill out of the wreck but couldn't do 
it as the wings had come down around him 
and there were wires and struts to be cut. 
L. came over and B. motioned him to go 
back to the field and report the wreck. Bill 
was partly conscious, but B. couldn't recog- 
nize him because of the blood coming from 
the cuts on his face and nose and ears. Bill 
recognized him and asked him if he was in 
a wreck, and when B. said "Yes," Bill 
wanted to know if he was driving and, when 
told that he was, he asked if it was on sil- 
houettes and if there was a student along. 
B. then recognized him by his helmet and 
voice, and told him that there was a student 
along and Bill kept asking if he was hurt 
badly and if he was conscious. There Bill 
was with his face all cut and body all 



132 GRANVILLE 

bruised and his arm broken in three places, 
his leg broken below the knee, and in three 
places between the knee and hip, and his hip 
dislocated, and never a whimper out of him 
about himself but only worry about the 
other fellow. There's a man! He asked B. 
if he had sent for 1369 (the hospital ship), 
and B. was afraid that L. had not noticed 
him, so he took off and left his gunner. 
1369 came over and they started to work to 
get Bill out of the wreck i&rst, which they 
did. By the time that they got Bill out, the 
hospital ship from Ellington was there, and 
they sent Bill back in that. At first the re- 
port at the field was that they were both 
killed and I sure felt better when I found 
out that Bill, in spite of his injuries, was 
conscious. Rouse and I went over to Alvin 
to see the girls and tell C's about Bill's ac- 
cident. They are sure like father and 
mother to some of us and to Bill especially. 
Couldn't get to see Bill this evening because 
of the shock, but he told Johnny how it hap- 
pened. It was Bill's own ship. No. 41630, 
that he smashed up in, and I remember how 
he once said that the most noble death in 
the navy was for a commander to go down 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 133 

with his ship and not desert her. We were 
talking about the use of parachutes in case 
of fire at high altitudes and he as much as 
said that he would stick to the ship. Bill 
was about the last man on the field that the 
boys would expect to crash, as he was among 
the oldest and best fliers on the post, and 
they are the pick of Ellington, as well as 
being the coolest and most careful. 

Flying was called off soon afterward be- 
cause of the weather, as it was blowing a 
regular gale and was full of bumps. The 
first time that we have called it off for any- 
thing but rain or fog since I've been here, 
and that is since the field was opened. 

Thurs. Nov. 7. 

Went over to the wreck before they 
hauled it off, and if s a wonder to me how 
Bill ever came out alive. He had evidently 
just got her out of the spin and got her nose 
started up when she hit as she was flat as a 
pancake. Everything broke into a dozen 
pieces, and especially in Bill's seat. 

When I came back from the wreck I 
found out that thirty bombers had their 
"overseas," but my name was not on their 



134 GRANVILLE 

list. I figured that if I was left off this time 
I never would get them, and was planning 
on getting me a good shotgun and a .30 
Govt, hunting rifle and prepare for my stay 
here, when one of the boys said that a friend 
of mine in the office at Ellington told him 
to tell me that my orders had come through 
but were being held. I hiked right into the 
office and asked why my orders were not 
given. They said that they had not arrived 
as yet, and then I reminded them of Army 
Regulations concerning the delay of orders, 
and he fussed through some papers and said, 
^'O, I guess these are for you," as though he 
had never seen them before. He said that if 
I would stay until the first of Dec. he would 
recommend me for promotion. I counted 
to ten before I answered him and told him, 
very politely, that I was very anxious to get 
across and thanked him for all he had done 
for me and the assistance he had always 
given me and the square deal he had always 
given the boys under him in always looking 
out for their interests, etc. 

Went up to Ellington to start to clear so 
that I could get away before my orders 
could be stopped. Saw Bill and he sure is a 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 135 

mangled mass. They haven't done a thing 
to him, as they are waiting for him to get 
over the shock, and he surely is suffering. 
I told him about my orders and he said that 
he would be over with me in a month. Poor 
fellow! He doesn't know that he has done 
his last flying. Boy! I sure hope that I get 
a crack at the Huns before this war is ended 
and get a chance to get one for Bill before 
they get me. He taught me how to fly and 
broke me of impulsiveness that verged on to 
recklessness. Was continually coaching me 
in every little position that a fellow might 
possibly get into. I figure that his advice 
and example have saved my life in this 
game, and now he is crippled, most likely 
for life, and it's up to me to do his work and 
mine, and all I ask is that the Lord gives me 
a chance. 

Rouse and I went to the field in R's motor 
and he took me around to all the different 
buildings that I have to clear at and then we 
went to Dickinson, on the way to San Leon, 
and I called up a couple of people to bid a 
fond farewell. Had a date with one girl 
to go to the dinner dance at Houston on Fri- 
day evening, with another to go to a dance at 



136 GRANVILLE 

Texas City on Sat. evening, and was going 
to another's house at Alvin for Sun. dinner. 
(Safety in numbers.) I put in calls for all 
three of them at once to call off the dates 
and, while I was talking to one, they got 
one of the others on the line. I finished 
talking and asked Central if the girl waiting 
on the line was the T. C. or A. girl and she 
told me the wrong one. I surely made a 
mess of it all around. I should worry. I'm 
going away and I'm not engaged to any of 
them, so they know that they are not the only 
girls that I bum around with. 

Fri. Nov. 8. 

Got all cleared this morning and took a 
one and a half ton truck and piled my bag- 
gage on it and hiked for E. They were 
working on Bill, so I couldn't take the 1 1 145 
train, as I had planned, but sent my stuff into 
town and waited for Bill to come to. He 
came out of the gas before they had finished 
working on him and the first thing that he 
said was, "Doc. I don't know a thing about 
medicine but I'm a mechanical engineer and 
I know that you know your business." He 
then went to sleep for the first real sleep that 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 137 

he has had. Yesterday the main thing that 
worried him was that the other fellow had 
died, and he kept asking if the fellows 
blamed him in any way. They certainly 
don't, as they all know that Bill did his 
best, but the odds were too much against 
him. I planned to take the three o'clock 
train but Bill was still asleep at that time, so 
I had the six or eight o'clock left, and if he 
had slept until then I would have stayed 
there a week, if necessary. The other fel- 
lows left this morning but I won't get lost. 
Plan on seeing father in Philadelphia, so 
will not let the folks know that I am at last 
started. 

Bill scared me when he awoke as he said, 
in a good loud voice, in a room otherwise as 
still as death, 'Well, Granny old boy, you're 
still with me." We had a helluva fine talk 
and fixed it up that I would see his folks and 
tell them about his accident when I hit 
N. Y. They had set his leg and arm and 
he was in good spirits and feeling fine. 
When I told him that I was leaving to-day, 
he asked about this peace rumor, and when 
I told him it was more or less bunk, his face 
brightened up and he said, ''Boy, I'll be 



138 GRANVILLE 

over there with you in a month." He asked 
if I would take some advice from him and 
when I said I would he thought and then 
said: ^'Granny, in this game always remem- 
ber one thing. You take a chance every 
time that you go up, but don't ever take any 
unnecessary or foolish chances/' He sure 
acted a lot more cheerful than I felt when 
he said good-by. I told him that if I got 
across before the war was over that I would 
think of him in my first fight and promised 
that the first Hun that I drop will be for 
him. 

I caught the 6 :oo train out of H. Good- 
bye to Houston, Ellington, and San Leon. 
When I hit Houston I had a telegram (last 
Feb.) from the Adj. Gen. of the Army stat- 
ing that I would take my training and 
would be ready for overseas by May ist as 
a bombing pilot. It has all taught me a 
good lesson. Never expect anything and 
then you'll never be disappointed! They 
were a good bunch (on the average) at S. L., 
and I would have gotten a first out of it very 
shortly, as there were some firsts under me. 
We just got in some more cars, and that 
meant that I would get a Dodge and driver 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 139 

all to myself, and as I was to have charge of 
the work at the new field as well as S. L. I 
would have a ship to go between the two. 
I knew any number of fine people and al- 
ways had a good time, but, in spite of all 
that, I have no regrets about leaving as I 
want a chance to get in some active service. 
The only reason that I would care to stay is 
that Bill is in the hospital, but he's past 
danger now. 

Sat. Nov. 9. 

Thought that when I left S. L. I would 
not be bothered by mosquitoes but I guess 
that I forgot all that I had ever heard about 
New Orleans. We were crossing on a ferry- 
boat when they spied me and they weren't 
slow in getting into action. They have the 
practice of "attacking from a blind angle" 
down to a science and have a good stream 
line shape which increases their diving 
speed. 

Have met a few fellows going to Garden 
City to be in the Handley-Page unit that is 
forming there. Wonder if that is what I 
am slated for. 

Was rather surprised at the number of 



I40 GRANVILLE 

pine trees in this country, as well as the wil- 
derness of it, in what I thought was all cot- 
ton fields and sugarcane patches. Sure see 
a lot of ship-building going on. The way 
that they take the sap out of the pines to get 
rosin or turpentine is a dirty shame as it is 
sure to ruin the trees in time. They take off 
the bark and collect the sap in a receptacle 
that is fastened to the side of the tree. 
Haven't seen a respectable clearing all day 
nor a decent house. The country is a lot like 
northern Wisconsin. 

The dollar meals in the diner are only 
costing the soldiers .75, and they sure are 
worth it. This dollar a meal is the only way 
to run it and give the public something for 
their money and still let the R.R. come out 
O.K. Am writing this in my berth. Read 
part of the day and played cards with an- 
other flying O. most of the day. 

A number of people traveling are wear- 
ing gauze muzzles to keep the flu away. 
Some of the ladies have net-like veils hang- 
ing from their hats in front of their 
eyes and then heavier veils or gauze of the 
same color fastened below and covering 
their faces from their eyes down. Sort of a 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 141 

^Tersian mystery-lady" effect. May be that 
is the latest style and not a flu net, but I've 
lived out of the U. S. for so long that I 
don't know the difference. That's what liv- 
ing in Texas will do to a person. 

Sun. Nov. 10. 

Went through Atlanta about midnight. 
Georgia and So. Car. have a little more 
cultivated land than the States just passed 
through, but they are all small patches and 
all growing cotton. A number of the towns 
have most all the houses built the same all 
the way through. Evidently, some large in- 
terests built them. Don't see how a person 
could tell which house was his on the morn- 
ing after the night before. The trees are 
turning red along in this part of the coun- 
try excepting, of course, the pine trees. Fall 
is here all right. The soil is all of the pe- 
culiar red color, like in Okl. and in the 
northern part of Minn, where the ore de- 
posits are. Saw an old log cabin with a flag 
hung up on the front of the building and a 
service flag in the window with three stars in 
it. The flag was a big one and must have 
cost the family considerable money and 



142 GRANVILLE 

from the looks of their little two-by-four 
cabin they can't be very well off. Almost all 
the factories and cotton mills seem to be new 
ones. I wonder if it is because of the war, 
high price of cotton, or the administration. 

There are a number of girls on the train 
who are going to N. Y. and from there they 
are going across. Wonder if Pat will 
happen to be on the same boat as I, if I ever 
get that far. The morning paper says that 
the Kaiser has abdicated. That makes no 
difference as long as the armies continue to 
pull the stuff that they are now doing. 
They are in a tight hole but as yet have not 
been decisively beaten but have been mak- 
ing a masterly retreat. It gets harder every 
day, though, to keep up the retreat without 
letting their lines break. 

In case that I shouldn't get over, I sup- 
pose that I won't be sent back to San Leon 
but will be sent to some concentration camp. 
I should worry. Met a couple of fellows on 
the train who went through ground school 
with me. They are on their way to Garden 
City. In case that it is not over before long 
— and I doubt if it will be this year — the 
U. S. will show the world something in the 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 143 

line of air work that they won't forget for 
some time. It's an opportunity that the 
U. S. can't afford to miss. If it lasts six 
months more we will have a i6o-mile-an- 
hour bombing plane on the front, and that 
is some plane. Our new bombing planes are 
being supplied with 8 hr. supplies of gas and 
oil, so that means some long-distance bomb- 
ing. Communication by wireless between 
ships and the ground and between the ships 
themselves has been perfected, as well as a 
means of locating yourself when out of sight 
of the ground. And now it would be hell if 
we didn't get a chance to give Germany a 
taste of what she has given the parts of Bel- 
gium and France that she has occupied. 

There are a number of boys on the train 
who are draftees from Alaska and are on 
their way to a camp in N. Y. Both my pals 
on the train have betook upon themselves a 
lady fair and taken her in to dinner, but as 
for myself. ... I am a very sedate sort 
of a person. Wait until those girls all get 
into France and they sure will be treated 
like a bunch of goddesses. Took one of 
them in to supper this evening and then I 
took in another, as I was quite hungry. 



144 GRANVILLE 

Country gets hillier as you go north as 
well as having more and larger plots of land 
under cultivation. Couldn't get a berth so 
had to steal forty winks until about mid- 
night and then we came into Washington 
and I changed trains and caught the B. & O. 
and had a good sleep. Woke up in N. Y. 

Telegram 

Overseas orders canceled with baggage 
all on transport. Will try and see father at 
Philadelphia to-morrow. Town gone wild 
all day and night. Now stationed at Field 
No. 2, Garden City, Long Island. 

Granny. 

Mon. Nov. II. 

Went out to Newark and saw Bill's folks. 
Will have to get back there some time and 
visit them when they're all at home. 

Got out to Garden City this afternoon and 
heard that my baggage had been sent to Ho- 
boken and that everything was in readiness 
to sail, when they called things off this even- 
ing and, in view of the happenings over 
there, I suppose that we never will get 
across. Some boys were three days on the 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 145 

ocean and they landed at N. Y. again. 
They landed two days ago, so I guess that 
the Govt, was quite sure that the armis- 
tice would be signed. Sure met a bunch 
of fellows that I knew at G. C. Must 
have met at least twenty in about an hour 
and then I went down town to the Holland 
House and met a mob more, as that is our 
official ^^hangout." Was sitting in the 
parlor on the settee with two girls and every 
minute or so some boy would come in and 
his eyes would pop out of his head and I'd 
have to get up and say "Howdy." They 
sure were glad to see me, and it tickled me 
myself. The girls said that they had heard 
about the French being affectionate in their 
greetings but that they had nothing on us, 
as about every other fellow would kiss me. 
Sure was glad to see them all. 

The town is wide open although all the 
stores have been closed all the day. This 
morning, when I first heard the news, while 
glad, of course, that it is over, I felt mighty 
darn blue. Walked up Fifth Avenue and 
everyone was crazy happy and I could 
hardly keep the tears back and keep a stiff 
upper lip. It sure is tough to be on an in- 



146 GRANVILLE 

structor's job for six months, and then, just 
when you give up everything for a chance 
to get across, you lose out by a few days on 
getting any action. 

There were sedate business men with 
their silk hats and canes walking up the Ave. 
with a couple of cow bells tied to their coat 
tails or an old wash tub trailing behind. 
Every car was full of yelling people and 
had signs and inscriptions all over the car 
and a tail of tin pans trailing along behind. 
Parades were formed everywhere and every 
person seemed to think it was his duty to 
furnish an appropriate float. All the busi- 
ness houses had their trucks full of tooting, 
yelling men and children. Kaiser Bill was 
hanged on about every other truck that came 
along. Some of the cars had inscriptions 
painted with whitewash right across the 
side of the car. Every one who could was 
walking up and down the streets or else 
parading for a change. Bands were formed 
with almost every man playing in a different 
uniform. A soldier on the street was the ob- 
ject of a special burst of tooting from a pass- 
ing car with waving and yelling like mad. 
Reminded me of a celebration after a foot- 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 147 

ball game or during carnival week, except 
that every one, old and young, were all gone 
crazy. One old man with white hair was 
riding on the bumper, or rather the radiator, 
with his feet on the bumper and was waving 
a flag with one hand and swinging his hat 
with the other. Girls were riding all over 
the engine hood, bumper and running 
board. Every one had a clever sign or say- 
ing on their particular vehicle. 

In the evening and during the whole 
night the cafes were open to soldiers and 
sailors as well as civilians. Girls were 
everywhere and, if a fellow wanted one, he 
didn't have to stall a bit about it but merely 
smiled back at them and he would have a 
dozen. The Italians had a dozen little 
parades all their own and they would stop in 
front of every Italian flag and sing some 
song. There were groups of French and 
Belgian as well, although the French were 
pretty well mingled with the crowd. The 
French sailors were all decorated like some 
flag store on the 4th of July. At the Wal- 
dorf there were French generals and gobs 
and doughboys all hugging and kissing each 
other. No one ever thought of saluting any- 



148 GRANVILLE 

one. I met several fellows from St. Paul 
and a couple who used to go to M. A. 

Finally decided to turn in, as I had had 
enough excitement for a fellow who was 
used to the wilds of that State called Texas. 
On the whole I was glad to be in N. Y. and 
see the demonstration and then I can truth- 
fully say that I did not fight the whole war 
in Texas, as IVe been away for a few days. 
This sure was the worst war I ever was in. 

Thurs. Nov. 12. 

Slept good and late this morning and then 
got up and bought a few necessities and then 
caught a train to Phil. I remembered that 
when Dad was there once before he stopped 
at the Adelphia Hotel, so I had no trouble 
finding out where he was. Had to go over 
to a meeting to get ahold of him. This 
town has a habit of building its streets just 
wide enough to put a street car track in and 
let it go at that. 

Learned how a good Methodist calls an- 
other good Methodist a liar. Heard it at 
the meeting in one of their discussions. We 
went to a banquet at the City Club in the 
evening and heard an interesting talk from a 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 149 

fellow who was just back from over there. 
Dad was pretty sleepy in the evening after 
the supper was over, so I caught the 12:30 
train for N. Y. Had a good talk with him, 
though, as we talked over a lot of things that 
would be too intricate to write about. 

Wed. Nov. 13. 

The 1 2 130 got me into N. Y. at 4 :oo in the 
morning, so I got a bite to eat and then 
caught a train at about 5 :oo for G. C. Stole 
forty winks in some fellow's bed who wasn't 
back as yet, and then reported again. 

After thinking over the celebration of 
last Monday there were some features of it 
that were rather disgusting. The number 
of drunken persons, soldiers and sailors in- 
cluded, was rather large. Their actions 
bordered on being rather rough, as everyone 
was more or less familiar with everyone 
else. O, well ! It was once in a life time ! 

While buying some stuff in town yester- 
day I enjoyed watching an elderly lady 
make a purchase for her driver. It was a 
fur coat that cost $165.00, but that seemed 
to be the least of her worries. He was a 
good type of an old English valet and it cer- 



I50 GRANVILLE 

tainly was interesting to watch. About the 
time that he had finished trying on all the 
overcoats in the house another lady came in 
with her driver to buy him an overcoat, and 
then the real fun began. They both wanted 
to be waited upon at once and the poor 
clerk, or salesman, was up a stump. At last 
he sold the first lady a coat and then showed 
one of the same kind to the second lady, who 
remarked, with a casual glance at it and 
with her nose in the air, that she didn't "care 
for anything cheap.'' Then they both 
glared at each other with their drivers 
standing behind them like seconds in a box- 
ing ring. After a bit it got so amusing that 
I laughed at them both, and then both stared 
at me as though I had insulted them and 
that broke up their fight. 

Every day I bump into about a dozen fel- 
lows that I know. There are over two hun- 
dred at G. C, as most of my ground school 
class are there as well as about a hundred 
and fifty bombers whom I have had under 
instruction at S. L. Now that there is a 
chance for this thing to end, the fellows are 
wondering what the Govt, will do to them. 
Some of them are for getting out at once, 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 151 

and some, mostly those who never could 
earn a living in civil life or else are too lazy 
to try, are planning on staying. Of course 
there are a few who are good men who are 
planning to stay with it but the majority are 
of the poorer grade. As for myself, I'll 
cross the bridge when I come to it and not 
until. 

I certainly wish that the armistice hadn't 
been signed, as the Germans would have 
been licked proper in a couple of weeks. 
Then they never could put up a fight, for 
over one third of their army would have been 
captured, to say nothing of the equipment. 
As it is now, they can get their troops out of 
the trap they got caught in and retreat to the 
Rhine and then say that because of the Reds, 
they are unable to live up to the terms, and 
by that time they can have their troops all 
reorganized. IVe got a lot of respect for 
the Kaiser's trickery, and I would give him 
credit for starting the revolution when he 
saw that his army was trapped so that there 
would be no system of Govt, that the Allies 
could look to for indemnities, etc. That 
Red movement is not likely to stay on the 
other side of the pond unless things are 



152 GRANVILLE 

handled mighty carefully in the future. 
They'll have to cut out this political party 
appeal bull and get down and study some 
absolutely new situations and conditions. 

Thurs. Nov. 14. 

Last night I slept in camp for the first 
time and was unable to locate my blankets. 
Had a cot and mattress saved, as I put a sign 
over them, ''Taken, Capt. Islet," so all the 
lieutenants decided not to monkey with the 
captain's stuff. My fur coat was a god- 
send, as it got a little cold about midnight 
and toward morning it was darn cold. I 
threw a mattress over me, as well, but was 
not exactly comfortable. Was glad when 
morning arrived but it sure was mighty slow 
in arriving. Have got a little room all by 
myself while there are Captains and Firsts 
who are out in the barracks, warehouses, 
and tents. Nothing like having nerve to ask 
for and expect the best. Hope that I can 
keep it. Bought four new blankets and a 
clothing roll to-day. 

Was nailed for football practice, and it 
was just my luck that they were playing a 
team from Camp Mills, so I was put in and 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 153 

played most of the time. We won the game 
29 to o. Sure was tired afterward. I drop- 
kicked one to-day that was done on a bluff 
and was the best kick that I ever made. 
Can't convince them that I am not a drop- 
kicker after that. 



Fri. Nov. 15. 

Was rather stiff to-day but managed to 
get around O.K. Had a good hard workout 
this afternoon on signals that lasted for 
about three hours. Our coach is an old Col- 
gate player and later coach. He is a pretty 
good sort and coaches a little differently 
from Williams or Dartmouth system. He 
tried me at both of the guards and tackles 
yesterday, so I don't know just what he is 
planning for me. Pretty fast company that 
I have to beat out anyway, but nothing will 
be lost in trying. 

Am getting to be quite a musician, as I 
discovered a player piano in one of the mess 
halls and sat and played until taps. Most 
of my musical talent lies in my feet I guess, 
as you have to pump the thing with your 
feet, and I'm some little pumper. 



154 GRANVILLE 

Sat. Nov. i6. 

Played the New London Naval Base to- 
day and won from them 14-6 in a mighty 
good game. We made the first touchdown 
and had things our way until they inter- 
cepted a forward and then made a success- 
ful pass and put her over but failed to kick 
goal. In the second quarter it was a listless, 
high school seesaw game, but in the third we 
came back with a vengeance and took the 
ball right up the field for a touchdown. 
Between halves the coach asked if there was 
any man who could handle his man, and I 
said that I could, so he told the quarter to 
plug the plays over me, and he sure obeyed 
instructions. Nine out of ten plays were on 
the inside or outside of me and maybe I 
didn't work to open up the holes. That was 
the first time in a football game that I ever 
worked so hard and fast that I got so weak 
I couldn't stand and the field was spinning 
around, but about that time we made our 
touchdown and I got a chance to get my 
second wind. Through it all I could hear 
"Atta boy. Granny, do it again for Mechan- 
ics." After the game I tried to find who it 
was, but had no luck, as the crowd was too 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 155 

big. The second half I wore out five men, 
which was doing fairly well considering 
that I hadn^t had much training. Their 
coach kept putting in new men in an effort 
to stop our plugging on that side but to no 
avail. He even sent in one man to try and 
start a fight with me, but I let him clout me 
twice, and the third time he tried the referee 
saw it and out he went. On the whole, it 
was a good game and a good bunch of fel- 
lows to play against. There were only four 
of us who lasted the whole game. Played 
right tackle and they never gained an inch 
through me, but I was lucky at that, as a few 
times they had me boxed but the man with 
the ball didn't see the hole and tried some 
other place. Their quarter insulted me, 
though, when he had three to go on fourth 
down and he tried to play through me, so I 
dinged him for a loss and then stepped on 
his hand to boot, for good luck. 

We had a dance this evening at the Hol- 
land House (our official hangout) and "a 
good time was had by all." Met a number 
of nice girls and had some good dances. 
Had one dance with one of the chaperons 
who got me cornered and then started on 



156 GRANVILLE 

that old line of questions regarding avia- 
tion: "How high have you been up?" 
"How did it feel the first time you were 
up?" "What do you do if your engine 
stops?" "O, yes, and what is a tail spin?" 
Met a couple of real nice girls who asked 
us out to some canteen to-morrow where 
they are going to be. The whole bunch of 
them came up with chaperons and were 
classed as "Debies." That name is strictly 
among ourselves though. The same way 
that other girls are classified as "Gold- 
diggers," or "Dinner hounds," or "Bricks," 
etc. I didn't take a name, telephone num- 
ber, or address, which was doing pretty 
good, as some of the fellows play this game 
with a pencil in one hand and notebook in 
the other and then keep a Dun and Brad- 
street in their room. 

Sun. Nov. 17. 

Got up this morning in spite of the stiff- 
ness from the game and the dance last night 
and went to a church in a rain. If I 
couldn't preach a better sermon than the 
one he did, I'd eat my hat. He talked about 
cooperation between the churches and prac- 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 157 

ticed what he preached by sarcastically re- 
ferring to the various other churches as the 
^^howling Methodists," "dignified Episco- 
palians" and "sage Presbyterians." He had 
the right hunch in regard to the boys com- 
ing home a spiritual bunch, but he gave 
the impression that it was because of their 
fear of death which made them that way. 
He is mistaken there, I think, as it's not fear 
of death. A man's not afraid to die, but he 
knows and feels a power stronger than 
human power that pulls him through a tight 
pinch w^hen human means are not sufficient. 
As it is often expressed after a smash where 
some fellow came out alive, when by all 
rules and regulations he ought to have been 
bumped off, "he had the Lord in the front 
seat." 

In the afternoon McP. and I went out to 
the canteen where the girls invited us. It 
was out on Riverside Drive where the 
sailors from the various ships could reach it. 
There were quite a number of battleships 
in the river. They were all sizes and de- 
scriptions and all camouflaged so that, even 
at that short distance, it was hard to make 
out their shapes, as it was quite foggy. 



158 GRANVILLE 

The canteen was a wonderful one and a 
new idea to me. There was a number of 
chaperons, and each of them brought some 
girls from the best of families who would 
talk to the different fellows, everyone join- 
ing a group of three or four or so. The 
British, French, and Jacks were all mixed 
up together, and a band from a British boat 
played most of the afternoon. They ran a 
canteen where the fellows could get a good 
meal or a lunch or ice cream at reasonable 
prices. 

Had a good talk with the girls whom we 
met at the dance last night and found out, in 
the course of the conversation, that the girls 
are working in some war work office for 
$30.00 a month.and, what is rather peculiar, 
they both go to and from their work in their 
cars and have the chauffeur call for them 
when the day's work is over. Rather inter- 
esting girls too. Their chauffeur called for 
them at the canteen, where the girls put in 
their Sunday afternoons, and both of them 
had Packard Sedans. 

Mon. Nov. 18. 

Got up and did some shopping, as I 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 159 

needed a lot of stuff. Also bought some 
music for H. S. which I sent to them. Was 
planning on going to Hoboken for some 
stuff at the Q. M.'s but the weather was so 
nasty that I went to see Chaplin in his latest, 
which surely was a scream. Was excused 
from the morning roll call and stayed away 
from football in the afternoon, as I figured 
that the weather was too bad for football. 
Maybe the coach will have a different idea 
about it, but I should worry. Didn't get 
out to camp at all to-day. 

A number of the fellows are wondering 
just what the Govt, is going to do with 
them and are planning all sorts of things. 
I am really undecided, myself, just what to 
do. Would prefer San Leon to this job, as 
I could get some flying in there while I can't 
do that here. Then, of course, they may dis- 
continue the school, as it is a training school. 
There are a few good men who will stay in 
the service for love of the game, and should 
I give up my work in college to stay in, it 
would be because of the fascination of the 
work. It's a known fact, though, that if 
you stay with it long enough it'll get you, 
but what's the difference? If it doesn't 



i6o GRANVILLE 

come one way it'll come another. What 
would be ideal would be to get my license, 
promotion, and stay in active service until 
next fall and then get a leave to attend col- 
lege, or else be put on in active duty until I 
finish college. Then when I'm through, 
get another promotion and go back into it to 
stay until I got enough of it or it got me. 
Surely wish I knew what was in store for 
me, but will have to take a chance, and I 
think it's about time that my luck changed. 

Tues. Nov. 19. 

The boys had practice yesterday and had 
a party given them in the evening, but I 
should worry about that. On my way out 
to the field this morning I met a fellow who 
bunked next to me in Feb. at Ellington. He 
is stationed at this field and is having a good 
time with the work. Besides a number of 
JN4HS they have a number of Ds and DHs 
and some Handley-Page and Thomas- 
Morses. A fellow gets training on about 
all of them. The Scouts certainly are little 
buzzing rascals, but the boys all agree that 
the DHs are the best of them all. 

We played an infantry team from Camp 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS i6i 

Mills this afternoon and won 21 — o. They 
certainly believe in giving us plenty of 
games, as we have another to-morrow. I 
played all the game but the last three 
minutes when I got a twisted ankle. Was 
carrying the ball on a tackle around play 
when about three of them hit me all at once, 
and, as there were a couple more that piled 
on, it made quite a pile and somehow my 
ankle got such a twist that I couldn't use it 
at all. Got me over to the barracks. Man- 
aged to get up to a chalk talk this evening, 
and the coach insisted that I go to the hos- 
pital, so he got a car to take me. He got 
special permission to have them put me up 
for the night without an entrance slip so 
that I can get out the first thing in the morn- 
ing, for they like to keep a fellow in the 
hospital once they get him there. They 
worked on the ankle all night, for we have 
a game to-morrow and another one Satur- 
day and the coach wants me fixed up. 
When an orderly wasn't rubbing it there 
were hot towels on it. 

Wed. Nov. 20. 
When I thought that I was going to get 



i62 GRANVILLE 

out, the doctor came around and looked at 
my ankle and said that it was broken, so 
they put me in a chair and hauled me into 
an X-ray room and took a couple of snaps 
and then hauled me back. They won^t 
even let me try to walk on it. They 
taped it all up so that the tape is like a 
light cast. 

Last night I came over here without any 
supper so ^'Tex," the cook during the night, 
soon had a wonderful midnight dinner fixed 
up for me. He knew me from playing on 
the team. 

Went to a show at the Red Cross House in 
the evening, on crutches, along with the rest 
of the cripples and invalids and they sure 
had some bill, as they had acts from most all 
the shows in town. Dancing, singing, com- 
edians, 'n everything. Had a number of 
sailors in different acts from some training 
station near here, and those boys sure could 
dance. There's something about a sailor's 
life that tends toward making a dancer out 
of him. 

The boys won their game to-day from 
some undefeated naval team coached by an 
All-American Harvard man. Score 20 — 6. 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 163 

If they win the game on Sat, it will put us 
on a level with Great Lakes. 

Thurs. Nov. 21. 

They let me walk around a bit to-day and 
have decided that there is no break but that 
it is a bad sprain. Right here I want to say 
what I think of the nurses. They sure are 
the best in the world! Many are college 
girls, with a few old nurses. They all are 
jolly too, and know how to handle a bunch 
of fellows so that the time in the hospital 
passes quickly. They know their business 
and on the whole are the best possible. The 
Govt, is sending across any number of 
American nurses, and I bet that they are a 
joy to a wounded doughboy's heart. There 
are also a number of girls who are in some 
motor corps work. They wear their uni- 
forms and sure look fine and can drive a car 
like a streak through the heart of the city. 

Had a lot of fun in the ward to-day, as 
there were four boys in the ward who were 
operated on this morning and were coming 
out of the gas. They were talking and the 
boys would ask them all sorts of questions. 
All of them who talked, talked about their 



164 GRANVILLE 

girls. One of them started by yelling: 
"One-ninety-four in the shade. What the 
hell use have I got for a kerosene stove? 
How much am I offered, boys?" And then 
he auctioned it off. The bidding was going 
up a dollar at a time when one of the boys 
raised it ten dollars, and the boy under gas 
heard it and said, disgustedly, "I've seen a 
better head on an umbrella than that fel- 
low has on his shoulders." He then gave a 
wonderful speech on the Republican plat- 
form and explained the protective tariff to 
perfection, so I asked him if he were a 
Democrat, and I can't write what he said. 
Again he was ordering dinner in a hotel for 
himself and two girls and was raving about 
the service since the war and ended by say- 
ing that such a place couldn't "earn enough 
to buy the bird-seed for a cuckoo clock!" 
Then the nurse came around and spoke to 
him and he started talking about his girl. 
He told us her name and where she lived 
and what sort of a looking girl she was, and 
also how she was a whole lot too good for 
him. 

Another fellow wanted some moonshine 
whiskey, so the nurse brought him some 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 165 

water and gave him a spoonful and he said, 
"Bah, Water! All that's good for is to wash 
in and put under bridges." 

Another fellow thought that he was on a 
steamer firing up the boilers. He kept 
yelling : "Shut the port holes ! Fire her up, 
boys! She blows off at two hundred!" 

Everyone in the ward was sick from 
laughing, and one poor cuss tore open his 
wound, as the stitches had been taken out a 
few days before, but the laughing got the 
best of it. They were all enlisted men but 
one, a former student of mine in the South. 
The officers' ward was full the day they 
brought me in and afterward I didn't care 
to change. Had good meals in the place 
too, even if it was grub for the enlisted men. 
I used to get a midnight luncheon of an egg 
sandwich or some milk or apples. 

Fri. Nov. 22. 

Just when I was all set to go this morning 
the doctor said that I had better wait until 
the afternoon. That's the way they keep 
you. Took a walk and managed to get up 
to the post office and got a letter from 
mother's friend, Mrs. H., who invited me in 



1 66 GRANVILLE 

to take tea with her. Called her up and 
accepted, and then told the doctor about it 
and said that if he wouldn't let me out I was 
going anyway, so he said that if I felt that 
good, he would let me out to-day and I was 
officially released. Watched the football 
practice but don't think that I will be fit to 
play even by Thanksgiving. 

Sat. Nov. 23. 

The coach gave me a RR. ticket to the 
place where they are going to play but de- 
cided not to go, so I went into N. Y. and 
then out to Newark, N. J., to see Bill's folks. 
Had a fine visit with them and stayed for 
dinner. His brother John has gone down 
to Texas to stay with Bill, but his younger 
brother and his father were at home, as well 
as his mother. Even as yet, they don't know 
that Bill has got a silver bar in both his arm 
and leg. Sure would like to see him 
although I hear how he is getting along, as 
a number of boys write, and a few have ar- 
rived here from the field. Went back to 
N. Y. in the evening and after taking a girl 
home who lived out about a hundred miles, 
I got back to the hotel and got to bed. This 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 167 

sure is a hard war. Wait until I get my 
hands on the boy who told me to help him 
out, as this girl only lived "out a little ways." 

Sun. Nov. 24. 

Decided not to go to church this morning 
after my experience last Sun. as well as last 
night, and I need the sleep. Went out to 
Mrs. J. H.'s in the evening and met a bunch 
of people. A couple of boys who had been 
returned from "overseas" were there. I'd 
give most anything for the little service and 
wound chevrons that they had on their 
arms if I could only wear them rightfully. 
Played all sorts of games and had a wonder- 
fully jolly time all around. Met a number 
of interesting girls but, like the fool that I 
am, I failed to take a phone number or 
address. Met a fine Naval Dr. and a num- 
ber of other naval officers. Caught a Sub 
back to the hotel and wrote the folks a note. 

All the fellows are wondering what they 
should do as there are blanks around to state 
whether you want an immediate discharge 
(and give reasons) or want to apply for a 
commission in the Reserve or Regulars. You 
choose and give reasons and qualifications. 



i68 GRANVILLE 

and they do the rest All the officers will 
be discharged and then they will recommis- 
sion those whom they want to keep. Of 
course the Regular Army officers will not be 
discharged. There will be practically no 
promotions put through now, so I doubt if 
I will stay in unless they will give me a First 
(Flying Officer as now) in the Regulars. 
Heard that they are going to take 4,000 
officers for the Provost General's Depart- 
ment, Army of Occupation and will take all 
of them from some other department, but I 
think that I would rather go without my 
service stripes than get them that way. 
That would mean police duty in the occu- 
pied territory. Better pick all the Irish for 
the police jobs. 

Mon, Nov. 25. 

Went out to camp to see what it looked 
like. Have not had to answer at the forma- 
tion because of football. The rest of the 
fellows have to drill and stand two forma- 
tions a day. Got out in the afternoon and 
found that they had just been looking for 
me, as there were some orders for me. 
Thought that the boys were kidding at first 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 169 

but soon got my orders to report to Elling- 
ton Field. 

Well, IVe had a nice visit at this place! 
Was fortunate to be here at the time of the 
celebration and really am fortunate to get 
my orders back to San Leon, as IVe got no 
chance to get across now. Got my orders 
without any "pull" at that, which is out of 
the ordinary. 

Am going to try to get home but rather 
doubt the possibility unless I can get them to 
date my departure ahead a few days, and 
that's rather risky business. Have a cold 
and a bad ankle, so I ought to be able to get 
plenty of sympathy along the road. Every 
one here puts themselves out to do you a 
favor in any manner possible. Even a little 
newsy walked two blocks with me to show 
me where I caught a car, and the conductors 
on the subways and cars all helped me on 
and off. A taxi driver who stood about 
four feet high wanted to help me out of the 
cab over in Newark, and if I'd ever fallen 
on him he would have been flattened. (Not 
flattered!) 

I haven't the least idea what the Govt, 
will do with me, and care less ! A number 



I70 GRANVILLE 

of the boys in that first class of bombers have 
been shot down and are now pushing up 
daisies in France — and, as long as I live, I'll 
never get over having regrets because I was 
not with them. No use crying over spilt 
milk, though, and I was glad that I got to 
see father. Just the same, as I explained to 
him, I sure wish the armistice hadn't been 
signed just yet. 

Taken from the "M" for February, 1919, 
St. Paul, Minnesota: 

"GONE WEST" 
By J. A. Norton 

"Granny's'* High School Teacher and 
Athletic Coach of Many Years 

Granville G , Lieutenant, U. S. A., 

Born April 9, 1897 Died Dec. 4, 19 18 
Over a mound in a village burial ground 
in southern Minnesota, a stranger may at 
some future date read that simple epitaph, 
which to him may carry no message beyond 
the bare facts there recorded. But to us 
who know, it would bring glad memories 
and a feeling of gratitude for a life and, 
more than that, for a death, which taught us 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 171 

much about the beauty that is possible in the 
soul of a man-boy, the Spirit of "Granny." 

Generous, clean, square and honest, 
Granny won friends because he was a 
friend, in the classroom and on the field of 
play. These characteristics brought him 
into unusually close relationship with his 
teachers and he never fell short of their ex- 
pectations. At heart always a boy, with all 
the fun-loving exuberance and mischievous 
tricks of a lad — his pranks never tinged with 
malice — he was yet strangely mature and on 
countless occasions surprised us by his seri- 
ousness and depth. 

School spirit is a well-nigh indefinable 
thing, yet to me he typified the ideal 
Mechanic Arts Spirit. Ambitious in 
athletics, as in other activities, he yet never 
failed to submerge his personal ambitions 
in the common effort to bring glory to the 
Blue and White. A quotation from his 
diary: "To just go ahead and try your 
darnedest to do your duty and let those who 
are working for their own selfish interests 
do as they please," recalls one certain inci- 
dent to my mind, which illustrates his un- 
selfishness and strength of character. He 



172 GRANVILLE 

was sent into a certain important game with 
"set" instructions as to how to play his posi- 
tion, and with orders to follow the instruc- 
tions throughout the game, even though his 
own judgment might dictate otherwise. He 
obeyed orders despite all criticism during 
the game, and as a result was unjustly 
blamed by the spectators. Although deeply 
hurt and much disgusted by the selfishness 
of others who had failed to play their parts, 
he fought out his battle alone and took the 
blame without bitterness or complaint. 
This incident gave some of us a glimpse of 
his real depth of character. 

It is an almost invariable fact that we get 
our ideals and inspirations from our elders, 
But I, personally, feel that I have been 
given a new attitude toward life and death 
by the life and passing of this one who was 
younger than I. I know of no better way to 
express my meaning than to tell of the man- 
ner of his death. 

"Over the top" for Granny began on 
November nth, the day on which the arm- 
istice was signed. En route to the flying 
fields of France — he was "Going East" — he 
was ordered back to New York to await 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 173 

further orders. He was later ordered to 
return to the aviation camp in Texas, and 
although suffering from a cold he left at 
once. When he reached St. Louis his con- 
dition made it necessary to consult a physi- 
cian, who told him that if he went on to 
Texas he would be gambling with death. 
Granny's reply was, "My orders read 
^Ellington Field.'" From St. Louis to 
Ellington Field he evidently traveled "on 
his nerve," for he collapsed as he was enter- 
ing the Ellington Hospital. Hospital offi- 
cials notified his parents of his serious condi- 
tion, and Granny himself soon realized that 
the odds were against him. 

Knowing that but a few hours remained 
for him and that his mother was coming 
from Minnesota, he sent for a fellow officer, 
to whom he gave detailed instructions as to 
the disposal of his effects. He then dictated 
a farewell letter to his mother and requested 
that the nurse keep it until after his passing, 
that the last hours with his mother might be 
untroubled. This was his letter: 

"Dear Mother : The odds are against me. 
There is a good chance that I might not be 
able to stick it out until you get here. I am 



174 GRANVILLE 

not afraid of death, but would like to live 
long enough at least to see you. I have 
lived the right sort of life, and know the 
Lord will take care of me. 

"Your loving son, 

"Granny." 

Granny's mother reached him in the late 
evening of December 3rd, and remained 
with him until the end. With unshaken 
nerve he hid from her every evidence of the 
rapid ebbing of his strength. With whim- 
sical humor he insisted that the nurse join 
him in tasting the jam which his mother had 
brought. Not once throughout the night 
did this boy-man betray to her his condition, 
though when the bugles sounded reveille, 
which marked for him the "zero hour," he 
bit his lips as if In protest. An hour later, 
still clasping his mother's hand, and with a 
smile on his lips. Granny "went West." 

Headquarters Aerial Gunnery 
School for Bombers, San Leon, 
Texas, January 21, 19 19. 
To Mr. & Mrs. G. 

The writer, for the Officers at this Post, 



TALES AND TAIL SPINS 175 

has had forwarded to you a loving cup bear- 
ing a suitable inscription in memory of your 

son, Lieut. Granville G , who died 

while in the service of his country. 

The inscription which appears on the cup 
is herein quoted : 

"A token of sincerest 

Affection and esteem 

For 

Lieutenant Granville G 



Who died in the service of his Country 

December 4, 19 18 

From his Brother Officers at San Leon who 

loved him as a friend and respected 

him as a soldier and who will 

miss him always." 

"Granny," as he was familiarly known to 
all of us, had been a very close friend of the 
writer during his course in bombing at El- 
lington Field, as well as while taking the 
gunnery course at this field, and later on as 
an Officer of the Post, in the capacity of 
Officer in Charge of Ground Instruction. 

He had become so closely attached to one 
and all at this field that it was with the deep- 
est regret that we saw him leave, and when 



176 GRANVILLE 

we found that Oversea Orders were being 
held up, we very quickly took the necessary 
steps to have him return to this field so that 
he might again become one of the Official 
Family as formerly. 

With this cup goes forth the heartfelt 
sympathy of the entire command, and it is 
sincerely hoped that when the presence of 
this cup recalls the memory of "Granny" 
that the thoughts of his former associates at 
this Post will as well appear in your minds. 

J. C. Martin, 
2nd Lt. A. S. (A) 
JCMjR Adjutant. 




THE LOVING CUP, EMBLEM OF VICTORY, SENT TO 
granny's family by his BROTHER OFFICERS 




















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